Uncle Puck
by readbetweenthesigns
Summary: Puck and Quinn are married, Puck's sister is staying with them while their mom is recovering from a serious illness and now that Jenna has turned sixteen, it seems like she can't help but carry on the family tradition... M for language
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Ownership is neither claimed nor implied, the author does not make any profit from this work of fiction.**

 **A/N: Puck never thought that family history would repeat itself…neither did his mom!**

It was the colours that caught Puck's eye first of all. At first, when he'd arrived home after a three week stint taking part in a training exercise in the Wayne National Forest, he was pissed that Quinn was holed up in their bathroom, probably beautifying herself for his imminent return and no doubt using up all the hot water that the ancient furnace in the basement far below them was able to muster. Puck - who hadn't had access to a shower in all that time - was desperate to feel soothing, massaging jets of water hit his skin. When he turned on the miserable dribble of a shower in the family bathroom, he groaned and almost sobbed, by the time he was done, he felt damn lucky to have managed even a luke warm shower. "Why the hell did she do it in here?" he pondered to himself as he reached into the trash to retrieve the tell-tale box…and then he wondered what the result was.

Puck grabbed a towel, wrapped it around his waist and stomped from the family bathroom to his and Quinn's bedroom. "Hey," he called as soon as he'd closed the door behind him. "Quinn," he called again when he didn't get a reply. "Babe, come on, open the door," he suggested huskily, and pressed his whole body weight against the wood, he almost staggered in when the door opened suddenly and Quinn was right there in front of him. "Hi," he murmured and then dipped to kiss her perfectly pouting lips.

"Hi," Quinn replied, and then smiled happily. Quinn loved that Puck was home, she loved that he'd showered already, she loved that he was only wrapped in a towel, Quinn wondered if they would have the house to themselves long enough to really enjoy it. "Mmm," she moaned deep in her throat as Puck lifted her from the floor for a moment, she loved it when he did that, demonstrated his strength, his masculinity, his 'Puckness'.

Puck waited for Quinn to tell him, to say the words…but she didn't. Puck was caught up in the moment, he allowed himself to be led into the huge, extravagant, walk-in shower – their first major purchase in the renovation of the 'fixer-upper' they'd bought soon after they'd married. "Oh, babe," he sighed as Quinn sank to her knees in front of him. Puck watched as his wife teased and pleasured him with her lips, her teeth, her tongue and her hands, he loved how she groaned when he tugged her to her feet, he revelled in the sounds she made when he finally entered her and when she shattered around him, he almost melted on the spot. "Was that good for you?" he panted as he tried to get his breath back.

"It's always good for me," Quinn replied with her trademark shy little smile on her face.

"Should we really be doing that, though?" Puck asked, he was fishing for the information. Quinn looked puzzled. "With you in that condition," he clarified with a nod towards her middle.

"What condition?" Quinn asked, she still had no clue what Puck was going on about but he was definitely acting strange!

" _That_ condition," Puck repeated, and sort of described a big stomach with his hands in front of his own super trim abs.

"What? Fat?" Quinn demanded, both put out and a little hurt that Puck thought she'd let herself go. Quinn surreptitiously glanced down at her stomach, under the guise of drying herself with a huge fluffy towel. No, she didn't think she looked any different, well, not much anyway…maybe she'd missed a few sit-ups and ab crunches in the last few weeks while Puck had been away, and perhaps she hadn't been quite as stringent with her diet as she usually was, but hell fire, she sure wasn't ready to be shoved on a season of America's Biggest Loser just yet!

"No, no, not fat," Puck hurried to assure Quinn. "Pregnant," he announced happily and then waited for her to tell him the truth.

"Who's pregnant?" Quinn asked, even more puzzled than before. "What on earth are you talking about?" she demanded.

"You are," Puck responded, just as puzzled as Quinn. "Who the hell else?" he demanded and then picked up the box he'd confiscated from the trash.

"That's not mine," Quinn said as she reached for the box to read the information on the back. Quinn had a flash of instant clarity. "Oh crap," she whispered.

"What do you mean it's not yours?" Puck asked, a sickening weight had just lodged itself in the pit of his stomach. If it wasn't his – and he could be absolutely damn certain that it wasn't – and it wasn't Quinn's, then there was only one person it could possibly belong to…his sister! "Jenna!" Puck roared, he sounded livid, Quinn was actually scared for the poor girl. "What the fuck is she thinking?" he demanded angrily. "She is sixteen years old," he stated – as though Quinn didn't know how old her sister-in-law was. "She's too young, she can't have it, what the hell is she thinking even having sex at her age?" he muttered to himself as he hunted for boxers and pants. "Jenna?" Puck yelled again. "She needn't think it's all a fucking walk in the park," he muttered as he dragged his sweats on. "Where the hell is she?" he asked Quinn. "If she's out with that little punk, I'm going to rip his freakin' head off," he stated.

"You know we were the same age when we had Beth, right?" Quinn reminded Puck, though she wasn't entirely sure he was listening to her. Quinn sighed as she got dressed. Whatever the outcome of that test was, the fact that Puck was this pissed with Jenna meant that this was not going to be good!

"Oh, like I'd forgotten that," Puck grumbled sarcastically. "I know we were, which makes us super qualified to tell my sister she's a freakin' idiot," he shouted, though he wasn't really pissed at Quinn, it was the situation he was pissed at more. "Shit, my mother is going to kill me, I promised her I'd take care of Jenna, I promised her that she didn't have anything to worry about, that she could just take this year to recover, to get herself better and not worry about a thing," he groaned and flopped on his back onto his and Quinn's huge bed. Puck covered his eyes with his hands and sighed heavily, he remembered the conversation well.

" _Noah, I really don't know what to do," Ruth Puckerman said, her voice had a wobble, it clearly demonstrated her distress. "On the one hand, this is an opportunity I never thought would come my way and on the other, Jenna needs me, she is becoming a beautiful young woman and she needs guidance."_

" _Mom, you should go," Puck insisted, he looked at his mom's pain ravaged face, the unhealthy pallor, the scarf around her hairless head. "We can take care of Jenna," he assured her, "really, she can stay here with us, well, with Quinn most of the time, especially if I get deployed anywhere, she'll be company for Quinn too if that happens," he added._

" _Oh, Noah, thank you," Ruth cried, all of her fears evaporated as her son – her grown-up, responsible son – demonstrated once again that he was nothing like his deadbeat, ass of a father!_

Quinn looked sadly at her husband, he still hadn't removed his hands from his eyes. "But at least Jenna has us to support her," she commented quietly – which was way more than they'd had ten years ago.

* * *

"What are we going to do?" Jenna whispered tearfully, she was absolutely dreading having to tell her mom, and even worse – her brother!

"I don't know," Aaron muttered as he hugged his girlfriend even closer to his nearly muscular, almost manly chest. "What the fuck are we going to do?" he thought wildly to himself. Aaron was considering making a break for it, getting the hell out of Dodge before Jenna's big brother found out what they had done – and what the result was! "How could it happen?" he demanded, not particularly of Jenna, but of the universe or anyone else who had the answers. "I mean, you said you were a virgin, right?" he asked suddenly as he thrust Jenna away slightly, she nodded. "Everyone knows you can't get pregnant the first time you do it, it's like, biology or something," he insisted.

"That is just the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard," Jenna hissed, she felt slightly bereft now that she wasn't in Aaron's strong arms. "And actually, you can," she corrected his mistaken belief. "It happened to my mom and to Quinn, too," she muttered. "Noah is going to kill me first and then he's going to kill you. Twice!" she cried with a lot of trepidation and a touch of fear.

"And if he doesn't, my mom is going to kill me anyways," Aaron murmured and hugged Jenna close again. What the hell were they going to do? Getting naked and actually 'doing it' had seemed like a lot of fun at the time – it didn't seem quite so enjoyable right now.

* * *

Puck paced up and down the kitchen while he waited for his sister to come home. "Relax," Quinn advised as she put the finishing touches to dinner. "Hey, what's the worst that can happen?" she asked as she took Puck into her arms to comfort him, soothe him, calm him. "Your mother didn't kill us, did she?" she reminded him. "She won't kill Jenna either, she'll be disappointed for sure, but she won't kill either of you."

"It's the disappointment I can't stand," Puck grumbled quietly into Quinn's hair. Both Puck and Quinn turned as the back door opened and Jenna stepped into the kitchen. The silence was deafening until Puck actually growled and took a step towards them when the boyfriend stepped in behind her.

"Hi," Jenna whispered nervously, she gulped and swallowed hard, her throat was dry, her mouth was even drier, she had no idea _how_ her brother knew, but she was suddenly aware that he knew _exactly_ what was going on with her!

"Come here," Quinn said quietly and held her arms open for Jenna to step into them. Jenna rushed forward, a sob escaped her as she found herself engulfed in the welcoming arms of her sister-in-law. "It'll be ok," Quinn murmured to Jenna, she soothed and comforted the distraught young girl. "We'll get through this," she promised. Quinn looked over the top of Jenna's head into the stormy eyes of her angry husband. "We'll do everything we can to make this alright for you," she insisted. Jenna couldn't speak, all she could do was sob on Quinn's shoulder.

"You and I need to have a talk," Puck growled at Aaron and then spun on his heel and headed to the lounge. Puck didn't have to ask, Aaron followed without a word. "What do you have to say for yourself?" he demanded the second they were alone. "What are your intentions towards my sister? How do you propose to take care of her? What are your plans for the future? I mean, what the hell were you thinking?" he threw question after question at the trembling boy.

"I, er, I-I don't know," Aaron stuttered, he couldn't even think straight never mind actually put his jumbled thoughts into words!

"Well, you better know," Puck hissed. Puck wanted to batter this kid, he wanted to wipe the floor with him, he wanted to just scream at the world, make it all go away, protect his sister…like he hadn't been able to protect Quinn. "Seriously, you better fucking know, because I want answers. Now," he demanded.

"Noah," Jenna said quietly from the doorway, "we only just found out today, give us time to think about it, think about what we need to do," she suggested, borrowing Quinn's words, using her advice in order to calm her brother. "We aren't you and Quinn, we might not make your choices, but we have to work this out on our own, the only thing we need is your support," she added as she stepped closer.

"You got it, sweetie," Puck mumbled into his sister's hair as he hugged her close to his chest. "Anything you need, you got it," he promised, he looked over at his wife, saw the agreement in her eyes – they both knew that their lives would have been very different if they'd had that same sort of support.

"Dinner's ready," Quinn interrupted quietly, she knew that everyone needed things to be as normal as possible. "Aaron? Are you staying for dinner?" she asked.

Aaron gulped. "Thanks, Ms Puckerman, but I think I better get home," he answered, "there's a lot I have to talk to my parents about," he reminded them.

"I'll see you out," Jenna murmured and broke free from her brother's embrace, she felt strong and empowered, she knew that Noah and Quinn would be there for her, always and forever, they would be there for her…and anyone else who came along.

* * *

"Hey, mom," Puck said quietly as Ruth answered the Skype call.

"Hi, honey," Ruth replied with a gentle smile. She looked so amazingly relaxed, Puck hated that he was going to be the one to disrupt that look. "Noah, what's wrong?" she asked, she knew it must be something serious to make her son look so troubled. "Are you ok? Is Quinn? Is it Jenna?" she asked, her voice trembled with fear.

"Mom, I have something to tell you but I need you to promise that you won't freak out," Puck said tiredly, he sighed deeply, he really didn't want to do this but both Jenna and Quinn had insisted. "Mom," he said firmly, and then swallowed hard, licked his lips and prepared to actually say it. "Fuck," he thought, "why me?" Puck blew out a breath again and cleared his throat. "Mom, Jenna's pregnant," he said quickly, his words almost running together as one.

"Wait, what?" Ruth demanded. Had she really heard that correctly? "Surely he said _Quinn_ , Quinn is pregnant, right?" she thought as she replayed Puck's words over and over in her head. "Quinn is pregnant?" she asked rather desperately.

"No, not Quinn, Jenna," Puck explained quietly, he could see the worry etch itself onto his mom's face as his words hit home. "She's ok, she's with Quinn right now, Quinn made her an appointment with her own OB, they'll call you again when they know more but Jenna asked me to break the news to you," he said – the whole time he was talking, Puck was watching his mom once again become the worried, frail woman who had left Lima five months before.

"I'll come home," Ruth decided, she began to look around herself, as though to decide what to pack.

"There's no need," Puck insisted, really, they all needed Ruth to continue with this meditation and relaxation therapy, so far it had worked wonders to restore her strength. "We'll take care of her, we'll do whatever it is that she needs, you did the same for Quinn," he reminded his mom, he remembered – though he often tried to forget those days – when he wasn't the responsible son/husband/brother that he was now, the days when he left Quinn hanging for a ride to her OB because he was making out with Santana or Mercedes or some random female who'd caught his eye, the days when his mom took over and gave Quinn the support that he should have given.

Ruth took a moment and a cleansing breath, she used some of the techniques she'd learned over the last few months and restored her own calmness. "Tell Jenna that I love her," she requested of her son, "and tell her it will all be ok," she added.

"I will, mom," Puck promised.

"Thank you, Noah," Ruth said as she looked deep into her son's eyes, she hoped that Jenna would make a different choice than Puck and Quinn had, she would hate for another grandchild to be out there in the world and not be in her life. Ruth ended the call and settled down on her bed to rest, to relax, to think about the future...and the past. She wondered if she could ever admit to her children that she had another daughter out there in the world, one that neither Puck nor Jenna had ever met...teen pregnancy and adoption seemed to be a thing for them, a family trait almost...and then she wept, for her son, for her daughter and for the child she had been forced to give up.

* * *

"Eight weeks," Quinn murmured as she and Jenna headed back towards home. Quinn remembered when she had found out that she was pregnant, she'd only been three weeks along, she knew her own body so well that one little change had been immediately apparent.

"Two months down, another seven to go," Jenna murmured back. She sighed heavily. "My mom's going to kill me, isn't she?" she asked tearfully. "I remember when Noah told her about you, I was hiding under the table colouring my dinosaur books in, I remember it because he cried, he kept telling mom that he was sorry and that he'd screwed up and mom kept telling him it would be ok, but she sounded really sad, really disappointed."

"Your mom will love you no matter what," Quinn assured the young girl by her side, "and we will all love that precious little angel when it gets here," she added and squeezed Jenna's knee. Jenna tried to smile, her lips wobbled as the tears rolled down her cheeks, but she tried really hard to actually smile.

* * *

"Hey," Puck sighed when he finally climbed into bed. He turned onto his side and drew Quinn backward into his arms, right up to his hot, hard body. "How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Fine," Quinn replied. "Envious," she added with a sniff as all the emotions that she'd tamped down all day came bubbling up to the surface. "Jealous, really, I suppose," she murmured even more quietly and more honestly.

"I'm sorry," Puck said and kissed Quinn's ear.

"What for?" Quinn asked, she turned a little to look over her shoulder at Puck.

"I know how much you want a baby and I don't know, maybe it's my fault it hasn't happened yet," Puck answered and rocked his hips into Quinn's butt. "It isn't through lack of trying, though, right?" he asked with a cheesy smirk. "We should give it another shot, don't you think?" he suggested as he turned Quinn fully onto her back.

"One more time with feeling," Quinn agreed just before her mouth was otherwise occupied, it was a long, long time till sleep finally overtook them both…

 **To be continued...**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Ownership is neither claimed nor implied, the author does not make any profit from this work of fiction.**

 **A/N: ...and the hardest part is still to come!**

Quinn winced when she heard Jenna throwing up in the bathroom, she'd been passing on her way downstairs to start breakfast. "I'll see to her," Puck said softly as he came out of their bedroom.

"She might not want you to be in there with her," Quinn advised, she gave Puck a look, one that he loved every time she did it – the one through her lashes, the shy look – as she remembered all the times Puck had comforted her through her morning sickness phase, even before Finn had so kindly informed her parents of 'their' predicament. Puck had actually been incredibly supportive throughout most of her pregnancy, there were just sometimes he'd screwed up – but that had usually been under the influence of his very overactive hormones!

"I can offer," Puck replied just before he knocked on the bathroom door. "Jenna? Sweetie? Are you alright?" he asked.

"No-o," Jenna sobbed.

"Can I come in?" Puck asked, his hand dropped to the doorknob as he heard his sister's wavering voice say 'yes'. "She'll be fine," he assured Quinn quietly. Quinn nodded and continued on her way downstairs. "Hey," he said as he knelt beside his sister and stroked her back, a gesture of comfort.

"I hate this part," Jenna grumbled and leaned on her brother slightly, she took comfort from his strength, his warmth, him.

"Quinn always hated this part too," Puck murmured, and to be honest, he wasn't totally thrilled with it either. "It'll pass soon enough," he assured her. "Then there's all the other cool stuff to look forward to, like stretch marks, weird cravings and my personal favorite, the never ending floods of tears," he teased, Puck was relieved to hear Jenna snort with laughter.

"I think I'm done," Jenna sighed and made to stand up.

"Brush your teeth, I'll see you downstairs in a few," Puck said and then kissed his sister's head, she certainly looked a bit better.

"Is she alright?" Quinn asked when Puck joined her in the kitchen.

"She seems to be right now," Puck answered. He walked to the fridge to get the orange juice out and then to the cabinet to get glasses. "Has she talked to you?" he asked as they worked together to make breakfast for the three of them.

"Not really," Quinn replied as she worked.

"I've been thinking about it all night," Jenna announced quietly from the doorway. Puck and Quinn turned to look at the young girl, now dressed in yoga pants and a long McKinley Titans tee. "I mean, I know I have a long time to think and to make decisions and it's not just my choice, Aaron has a say too," she began as she came into the kitchen and sat down at the table. "I know that if we keep it, we won't be able to go to college, we'll be tied down, our life won't be our own, well, mine won't anyway," she added quite despondently and then paused. "But I also know that I can't totally let go," she said and then looked at Quinn, "I'm not as brave as you, I can't go through what you went through, so I have a question to ask," she said and then gulped. "Would you adopt my baby? Will you take it and bring it up as your own?" she asked nervously.

"Oh, honey," Quinn sighed as she hugged Jenna's head into her stomach. Quinn looked at Puck and nodded, Puck looked back at her and nodded too, they didn't need to discuss it, they both wished someone would have offered them that solution all those years ago. "Of course, we will," Quinn promised – and if, in seven more months, Jenna still wanted to go down that route, then Puck and Quinn would do just that.

* * *

Puck turned the hose on his truck and rinsed it off, he'd worked quite mindlessly for the past couple of hours, washing his truck, Quinn's cute little BMW and his sister's – or more accurately, his mother's – clapped out Nissan. "Hey," Quinn called and broke into his reverie. "Brought you a cup of coffee," she said and held the steaming mug out to him. "I think maybe we should discuss Jenna's idea," she added and made herself comfortable on the step.

"There's nothing to discuss," Puck disputed. "We both know how hard it is to give a baby up, we know how much of us it took, what it did to us, you especially," he added and then sighed as he remembered that sad, sad time. "I can't let Jenna go through that, not if I can do something about it," he stated.

"That's my view exactly," Quinn agreed and smooched closer as Puck sat down beside her to drink his coffee. "There's no way another baby from this family is going to be out there in the world without us, not a chance," she vowed quite vehemently. "I don't think your mom could take that either," she added quietly.

"No, I think that would probably finish her off," Puck murmured and nudged Quinn with his shoulder. "You sure we can do it?" he asked.

"Yep," Quinn replied quickly, "if Aaron and his family agree of course," she qualified her statement.

"The small room next to ours will make a great nursery," Puck reminded her and gave her another nudge with his shoulder. "We've said that since before we bought the house."

Quinn nodded, they'd had plans to do that ever since they'd made the offer on the house. Quinn's other plan, Plan B – if they weren't lucky enough to have another baby – was to turn the small room into a dressing room for their master suite. She was glad that it was Plan A they were going to put into action.

* * *

Jenna paced nervously in front of the computer, she was trying her best to find the courage to make the Skype call to her mom. She knew that her mom knew, she was glad that she didn't actually have to say the words, but she still had to face her. Jenna rubbed her hands together and then wiped them down her thighs, wiped the moistness from them. "Oh, God," she sighed quietly and then turned the computer on. Jenna wasn't sure if the slow moving icon that showed the computer was trying to make the connection was a blessing or a curse. "Please don't pick up, please don't pick up," she prayed silently because then she could say at least she'd tried.

"Hey, baby, how are you?" Ruth's gentle voice came over the internet hook up and shocked Jenna to the core.

"Momma, I'm so sorry," Jenna sobbed, she couldn't think of anything else to say. "We didn't mean for it to happen," she wailed, she couldn't even make eye contact with her mom, she didn't want to see the disappointment there.

"I know that you didn't, baby," Ruth assured her daughter. "But it has happened and now we have to decide what to do," she said with a firmness that was both surprising and also nice to hear.

"I already asked Noah and Quinn if they will adopt the baby," Jenna replied with a sniff. Jenna wiped the tears from her cheeks, dabbed her eyes with a tissue and then looked directly at her mother. "They agreed, Quinn said that we can't have another baby from this family out there in the world," she explained.

"I agree," Ruth said with a nod, she was thankful to hear that, she hadn't actually thought along those lines, but she had definitely decided that she would insist that the adoption – if that was Jenna's choice – be an open one. "But you have to make sure with Aaron that it's his choice too," she warned, "because look how much it affected Noah and Quinn all those years after Beth was adopted," she said sadly. It still hurt Ruth that she hadn't been understanding enough towards Quinn while she was pregnant to make her feel that she had another choice other than adoption. Ruth thought it probably still hurt Noah too, but she never said that, she never voiced that, not ever.

"Hey, mom," Puck said as he came into the room to offer moral support to his sister.

"Hi, Noah," Ruth replied, she gave her son a warm smile.

"You look better today," Puck added, at least she didn't look worried or in pain today.

"Well, I got to thinking," Ruth said with a wry smile, "we can't change it, there's none of us would condone that, so we better just make the best of it," she added.

"And did Jenna tell you what she's decided?" Puck asked and then hugged his sister to his side.

"Yes, she did," Ruth replied with a gracious nod, Puck gave a tight-lipped smile and a nod, they just had to wait to see what the boyfriend said about it.

* * *

As the days and weeks passed, Jenna saw less and less of her boyfriend. Every time she called him or messaged him, he either didn't pick up or took hours to reply. "It's like I've completely fallen off his radar," she grumbled to Quinn one evening when they were relaxing in the lounge together, Puck was on duty, he wasn't due back in Lima until the weekend. "Noah wasn't like that with you, was he?"

"He was the opposite," Quinn answered with a soft smile, she thought back to those long ago days, back when Finn still thought he was the father but Puck was doing everything a dad should do because he _knew_ he was the father. "There were times when I would have given anything for a little bit of space," she added with a roll of her eyes. "He was always there, he used to follow me into the girls' bathroom at school in case I was sick and needed comfort, he used to bring me snacks and stuff and break into my locker to leave them for me, he even used to climb the drainpipe outside my bedroom window to come into my room at night and sleep with me, but don't ever tell him I told you that and believe me, if Aaron tries that, I will find out, I'm a very light sleeper," she warned when she realised that she had opened the door for Jenna's boyfriend to pay secret nocturnal visits.

I really don't think you have to worry about that," Jenna mumbled sadly. She sighed as she made herself a little more comfortable on the sofa. "I don't think he wants to be my boyfriend anymore," she admitted. Quinn reached over and took Jenna's hand, she needed to do something to give the poor girl some comfort, and it obviously wasn't going to come from Aaron. God help the kid if Puck ever got hold of him!

* * *

"I am so excited for this," Quinn whispered to Jenna as they waited for the technician to get everything set. "Are you?" she asked, Quinn wasn't surprised when Jenna just shrugged nervously, she could feel the young girl physically shaking, shivering with fear and tension. Quinn got it, she really did, she remembered that very first sonogram, the one that Finn attended with her, the one that Mr Schue took them to, she had been worried that she was going to fall off the bed she was shivering so much, she'd been scared to death that Finn would be able to see that the baby looked like Puck instead of him - which was totally nuts, but she hadn't been able to control the stupid way her mind had worked at that time.

"Do we want to know the gender?" the woman – Carly, according to her name tag – asked with a pleasant smile. Quinn was pleased that her attitude was much nicer than the abrupt woman who had performed Quinn's sonograms all those years ago.

"I think we do, don't we?" Puck asked from the foot of the bed.

"Yes, please," Jenna replied, she glanced up at Quinn, she was gripping so tightly on to her and she wanted to apologize, especially if she was hurting her, but she couldn't say another word.

"What are you hoping for?" Carly asked in a slightly distracted way as she maneuvered the wand around Jenna's tiny bump, the little protruding mound of her stomach.

"We haven't really talked about it," Jenna answered nervously. "Are you hoping for a girl or a boy?" she asked Quinn and then glanced at Puck.

"Doesn't matter," Puck replied with a grin and nudged Jenna's foot. "Your baby will be loved no matter what it is," he assured her softly.

"My brother," Jenna explained to Carly as she gave Jenna a slightly puzzled glance. "He and Quinn are going to adopt the baby, take care of it for me," she added.

"Her," Carly put in softly with an admiring look at first Quinn and then Puck.

"It's a girl?" Quinn asked once the word penetrated her brain. Carly nodded. "Oh, sweetie," she cried and hugged Jenna tightly. "A darling little girl to join our family, thank you," she whispered through her tears. Jenna glanced at her brother, she was shocked to see him surreptitiously wipe his eyes, as though he too had to wipe away a tear.

* * *

"It's _my_ decision, Aaron, _mine_ ," Jenna hissed angrily in the hallway at school.

"What about me?" Aaron demanded quietly, he didn't want to draw the attention of the masses, they were in the spotlight enough already, what with him being on the football team and her being in glee. So far they had been able to keep this situation under wraps, but by the looks of Jenna, they wouldn't be able to for much longer, she was beginning to look like she'd swallowed a soccer ball! "Don't I get a say in all this?" he asked.

"You forfeited your chance to have a say when you told your parents you weren't sure you were the father," Jenna ground out, she was still very angry about that – pissed beyond belief, actually! When Aaron had first told his parents that his young girlfriend was pregnant, his mother had become hysterical, so much so that Aaron had agreed with her that Jenna must have been intimate with any number of boys and any one of them could be the father, instead of manning up and admitting to her that _he_ was the only possibility.

"But she's my baby, too," Aaron insisted through gritted teeth, he glanced around to make sure no one had heard him, heard his words, they really didn't need this to be public just yet.

"Pity you didn't have the balls to say that to your mom in the first place," Jenna replied and then slammed her locker door shut. Jenna raced off to the nearest girls' bathroom. The second she was alone she leaned against the cool tile wall and sobbed. "You will be loved, baby," she muttered as she stroked her hand over the growing mound of her stomach, "you really will be loved," she promised.

* * *

"Mom," Jenna sighed as Ruth caught her up in her arms, she felt all the warmth and love that she knew would be there, she felt at home.

"How are you, sweetie?" Ruth murmured into her daughter's ear as they hugged.

"I'm fine," Jenna replied, she hadn't yet moved, she was content to just stay hugged up with her mom, she felt such comfort, such acceptance, and the only other place that had come from recently was from her brother and sister-in-law. Jenna thought back to the last week at school...

 _"You," Sue Sylvester shouted as she passed by in the hallway. "Yes, you, Preggo Pop Princess," she clarified and pointed at Jenna. "I thought this might have stopped with your brother, I thought he might be the only one to have carried on the family tradition but no, looks like you're doing it as well," she exclaimed, her face showed her disgust._

 _"What do you mean?" Jenna asked nervously._

 _"Popping a kid out at sixteen," Sue explained bluntly. "I mean, I don't know if your grandma or great-grandma did it, but they probably did, I mean, you're from Lima so it's like in the water or something, but your mother did, your brother did, with my head cheerleader I might add, and I'm damn sure your father had his first kid when he was five, check it out," she advised and then stormed off down the hallway to terrorise some other random person._

"As long as you're ok, that's all that matters," Ruth said gently, she didn't want to let her daughter go, she wanted to hold her for forever, she wanted to take the hurt away for her, she wanted to do anything, everything to keep her from getting hurt...and to have to keep carrying that hurt around for the rest of her life.

"Can we stay here for now?" Jenna mumbled into her mom's bony shoulder, she really didn't feel like moving all of her stuff back to their house right now, she felt totally weary and they only had a couple of weeks left till the baby was due, she really would feel better if they were here at Noah's house.

"Sure we can," Ruth agreed, she looked over at her son who nodded and Quinn who did too. "That's alright with you two, right?" she asked so that Jenna would know too.

"I'd prefer it," Puck stated quite honestly. Puck really did think it was the best idea, he knew, as did Quinn, how stressful it was moving house this late in a pregnancy - she'd done exactly that when she'd gone to live with Mercedes.

* * *

"It's a beautiful room," Jenna sighed when she and Quinn stood in the doorway of the nursery. "Any little girl would be so lucky to have this room," she whispered, her hand slipped to the huge bump that was currently making walking, eating and sleeping so difficult.

"We're the lucky ones," Quinn whispered back, her hand landed lightly on top of Jenna's for a second.

"I know it's going to be hard, especially once I move back home with mom," Jenna said quietly, "but I still think this is the best solution," she assured Quinn.

"You know what the counselor advised," Quinn reminded Jenna. "We won't make anything official until you are completely sure, until you've had time to absolutely make up your mind, and even if you decide that you want to keep her, we will still help you out in any way we can, alright?" she repeated the promise as she had for the last few months.

"Thank you, Quinn," Jenna replied and then hugged her sister-in-law.

"So what do you think?" Puck asked as he put the finishing touches to the dresser, the final piece of furniture that completed the nursery.

"Beautiful," Quinn sighed.

"Perfect," Jenna sighed.

"Amazing," Ruth added from over Jenna's shoulder. "How are you feeling?" she asked her daughter.

"Not too bad right now," Jenna answered, "but my water hasn't broken yet," she added and then sucked in a breath as another contraction ripped through her. "Are you sure I don't need to get to the hospital yet?" she demanded.

"Not yet, sweetie," Quinn assured the terrified teen. "Soon, once your contractions are every five minutes or so, remember what Stacie said at every Lamaze class," she added. Quinn patted Jenna's shoulder, she knew exactly how scared the young girl was – she'd once been that young girl herself!

* * *

Puck stood transfixed in front of the nursery window. "She looks like you," he said to the young girl at his side. "Do you want to keep her?" he asked.

"No," Jenna replied without a second of hesitation. "Please don't hate me, Noah, I couldn't bear it if you hated me," she whispered.

"Never going to happen," Puck assured Jenna. "I'm your big brother, I'll always love you," he reminded her and then something tugged in his memory, "especially now."

"Does she have a name?" Quinn asked when she came to Jenna's other side.

"No," Jenna answered quickly, she didn't want to say the name she'd been dreaming of, she didn't want to impose her ideas on her brother and Quinn.

"Yes she does," Puck contradicted and then turned to face Jenna. "Don't tell me you haven't thought of something, called her something when she was moving around inside you," he challenged.

"Fine," Jenna sighed. "Scarlett," she admitted, "I always call her Scarlett," she mumbled.

"Hey, Scarlett," Puck whispered through the window towards his niece. "Pretty name," he told Jenna.

"Scarlett Puckerman," Quinn said slowly, "it has a ring to it," she told Jenna with a smile. "Unless you've decided that Aaron deserves another chance. Scarlett Greenberg sounds just as good," she murmured.

"No, Aaron's moved on to pastures new," Jenna choked out, she'd been royally pissed at Aaron's latest Facebook status – in fact, she thought that was possibly what had brought on her contractions.

"You know we'll love her just as much if we're her aunt and uncle or her parents, right?" Puck suggested with a nudge of Jenna's shoulder. "Uncle Puck's got to be a great name, right?"

"I think mommy and daddy sounds even better," Jenna replied and then launched herself into her brother's arms when she burst into tears.

"Whatever you want, sweetie," Quinn murmured as she closed in from the rear to squash Jenna in a Puckerman sandwich with a Puckerman filling.

"Hey," Aaron said quietly from just behind Quinn. "Your mom called my mom," he explained nervously when all three of them turned and just stared at him. "Which one is she?" he asked with a glance towards the window into the nursery. "Oh, I see her now, she looks like you," he said with a smile at Jenna. "Does she have a name?" he asked.

"Scarlett," Jenna whispered, the name almost stuck in her throat, "Scarlett Puckerman," she added more firmly, she needed to let Aaron know that he wasn't included, he wasn't involved. "Noah and Quinn are going to adopt her," she informed the relieved young boy.

"Do you need me to sign anything?" Aaron asked helplessly.

"Don't you want to talk to your parents about it first?" Puck suggested, he really thought that both Jenna and the boy should take a while to consider all the options.

"I'm too young to be a father," Aaron answered honestly, and then balked under the hostile gaze of Jenna's brother.

"Maybe you should have thought of that before you started playing adult games," Puck growled at the nervous boy.

"I'm tired," Jenna sighed, "I'm going back to my room, I think mom's there," she told Quinn. Jenna felt emotional enough, she really didn't need this display of testosterone, but she sort of hoped that her brother would kick Aaron's ass a little, at least enough for him to be too scared to have sex without protection any time soon.

* * *

"Hey, baby," Puck whispered to the little girl as he soothed her, he really hoped she would stop crying, he wanted both Quinn and Jenna to think he knew what he was doing. "Hey, won't you hush for Uncle Puck?" he murmured as he rocked her close to his chest.

"Maybe she'll stop crying for her daddy," Jenna suggested from the bed, she looked around the room at her family. "Look, I know the counselor advised us to wait but I won't change my mind," she said and then looked directly at Quinn. "I know that you've missed Beth every single day since you gave her up and I don't want that, I mean, I know I'm not ready to be a mom just yet, but I bet I'll make a kick ass aunt."

"Let's just take things one day at a time," Quinn advised. "I think she's hungry, do you want to feed her?" she asked Jenna – she was still going to encourage her to do as much as possible for the baby, bond with her, she would hate to think that in six months time, when the hormones had subsided, that Jenna would feel that she'd made the wrong decision.

"I think you should feed her," Jenna whispered through a tight throat. She knew what Quinn was doing and she appreciated that – but she wasn't going to change her mind. Even when she looked at the baby, she didn't think of her as a daughter, she thought of her as a niece, she couldn't contemplate having the overwhelming responsibility of caring for a child day in, day out, it just wasn't the right time in her life for that. "Maybe her daddy could feed her," she suggested with a tearful smile at her brother. Puck gave Jenna a wink and then sat down on the small sofa to give Scarlett her first ever bottle of formula.

"Hey, little sweetie," Puck murmured as his niece's rosebud lips pursed around the silicone nipple, "is this what you want?" he asked her as she suckled hungrily. Puck glanced up and looked at the ladies in the room. "This doesn't mean I get to change the first diaper too," he warned them. Ruth and Quinn grinned at him, Jenna tried to, but it was hard, very hard.

* * *

Ruth, Puck, and Quinn left Jenna to sleep with Scarlett in a crib alongside her. "I think that maybe for the first couple of months, Jenna should stay with us," Puck announced over his coffee in the hospital cafeteria.

"You don't think that would be too hard for her?" Ruth asked as she stirred her own coffee.

"Yes it's going to be hard," Puck agreed, "but it will also mean that she won't have missed any time with her if she changes her mind about us adopting Scarlett," he explained.

"I'm not sure it's the best thing," Quinn put in. "I mean, I agree that she should spend time with the baby, I want them to bond too, I just don't think I could have done that if Shelby had given us that option," she said and looked at Puck quite intensely. "If Shelby had given us that chance, I would have made off with Beth the minute I had a moment alone with her," she admitted quietly.

"And if that's what Jenna decides, then so be it," Puck said and watched the light dawn on both his mother and his wife. "If Jenna decides she's made the wrong choice, I want her to have bonded with the baby, I don't want her to think she can't do it because she missed something, you know?" he implored, he really hoped that Quinn of all people would understand, his mom too.

"Noah, I think that is a very noble thing to do," Ruth said quietly. "But it might just be too hard for her to even think about just yet, be guided by Jenna, let her make the moves, make the choices and if she wants to come home with me, let her do that, if she wants to visit with you and the baby, let her do that, don't force anything, just let whatever happens, happen," she advised.

"Ok," Puck agreed and then reached for Quinn's hand. "We're going to love taking care of Scarlett till Jenna's ready to be her mom, right?" he asked.

"Absolutely," Quinn said with a firm nod, despite her watery eyes. "Scarlett isn't going to know the difference between aunt and uncle or mom and dad, not for a long time, and maybe by the time she finishes high school, Jenna will feel ready to be more involved," she suggested.

* * *

"Hush little baby don't you cry," Puck sang softly as he comforted Scarlett back to sleep during her midnight feed. "Uncle Puck's going to sing you a lullaby," he improvised as the little girl snuffled in his arms.

"Uncle Puck does that very well," Quinn said softly from the doorway to the nursery.

"Thanks," Puck murmured as he stood up from the nursing chair to lay the baby in her crib. "I wish Jenna would come and spend more time with her," he sighed sadly as he patted Scarlett's tiny tummy, "I just know she's going to regret it if she doesn't."

"Give her time," Quinn advised, "it's only been six weeks, it's probably still too raw for her," she explained, "I get that," she added very quietly.

"I know, it's just sad for her," Puck sighed with a nod towards Scarlett.

"No, it's not," Quinn contradicted. "She's in the best position," she said as Puck joined her in the hallway.

"How do you make that out?" Puck asked.

"She has a nanna who loves her to pieces, an honorary grandma who can't get enough of her," Quinn reminded Puck - and seriously, if Judy bought the baby any more presents, the house was going to collapse under the weight! "Don't forget she also has an aunt and uncle who adore her and she has a mommy who loves her enough to let her go," she added pertly.

"And a grandpa who called today and asked if he could come to visit," Puck muttered with a roll of his eyes – Puck still wasn't sure if his dad's intentions were to stick around long enough to be a proper grandpa to the tiny little girl, but he was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

"She has plenty of family," Quinn said with a satisfied smile. "Plus she's going to have a new baby cousin in seven months, too," she added with a shy look on her face.

Puck stared at Quinn, his mouth had dropped open, he looked like he couldn't believe his ears. "Seriously?" he breathed. Quinn nodded tearfully. "We're pregnant?" he asked, just to be sure.

"Yep," Quinn replied, her voice was just a squeak as Puck dragged her close, hugged her tight. "Apparently, we just needed to relax, not think about it," she murmured the words that her OB had said when she'd been for her appointment that morning. "Whatever Jenna wants to do, Scarlett will either be a big sister or a big cousin and taking care of two babies isn't much harder than taking care of one," she said with confidence, though she wasn't sure exactly who she was trying to convince, herself or Puck.

"Oh, God, that's amazing," Puck sighed, he leaned back to look into Quinn's eyes. "You know I've loved you for the longest time, right?" he murmured, Quinn nodded, she had tears already forming in her beautiful green eyes. "I never thought I could love you more, but I do, every single day, I love you more," he said just as his voice cracked. Puck had thought his love for Quinn was all-encompassing, he never thought it could get any bigger, but she'd just taught him that it could!

Once they were settled in bed, Puck was, as usual, spooned up behind Quinn. "Did you find anything out yet?" she asked quietly.

"I managed to find the birth record," Puck replied just as quietly. Silence reigned for a few minutes, each of them lost in their own thoughts. "Do you think she'll really want to know us?" he asked.

"I don't know," Quinn answered honestly "but I think your mom needs this and I think it might make Jenna feel differently too, maybe this is what will make Jenna want to be a mom to Scarlett rather than an aunt," she offered up hopefully. Silence descended once more as they both pondered the consequences. Would Ruth appreciate the daughter she'd given up over thirty years ago suddenly coming into her life? Quinn knew that if it was Beth, _she_ would, she really would - there was never a day that went by that Quinn didn't think about Beth in some way, and she was pretty damn sure that both Ruth and Jenna would be the same, it was time to make this right...for all of them!


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Ownership is neither claimed nor implied, the author does not make any profit from this work of fiction.**

 **A/N: …the truth will set you free...**

Puck studied the information in his hand, he was sure it wasn't accurate, he didn't understand how it _could_ be accurate. "How is this even possible?" he whispered to himself. "Mother, Ruth Anderson, age, sixteen, I know that part, well, not her age so much, and seriously? You yelled at me and you were way younger than me," he said out loud as if his mother could hear him. "Well, not exactly _way_ younger, but at least I was already sixteen when I actually got Quinn pregnant, but hell, I did not expect _that._ Father, _James Puckerman_ , age, seventeen," he mumbled to himself. Puck picked up his phone and dialed Quinn, he needed to talk to her right away. "That's just the same as us. Jesus, my family is totally fucking screwed up," he told the empty room.

"Hi," Quinn said as she answered her phone. "Scarlett says hi too, don't you sweetie," she added, she continued to change Scarlett's diaper as she talked.

"Quinn, I just found out that my _dad_ is the father," Puck broke in to say, he sounded distressed. "I mean, the baby my mom gave up, _my_ dad's _her_ dad too, don't you think that's a bit weird?" he asked, he wouldn't ever have believed that history could repeat itself so damn accurately!

"Why?" Quinn demanded as she fastened the new diaper, her phone was tucked between her shoulder and her ear. "There we are, all beautiful and sweet," she said with a grin and plonked a kiss on Scarlett's tummy. "Look at us, we're Beth's birth parents and we will be to this new one when it arrives," she reminded Puck. "It happens, it's like history repeating itself, and look at the amount of time between them, Beth will be eleven by the time this one comes," she added. "You're how much younger than your sister? And Jenna's ten years younger than you," she added just to make sure he understood.

"Erm, she is eight years older than me," Puck replied hesitantly as he worked out the dates. Ruth's first child had been born when she was sixteen – just barely sixteen, like only weeks after turning sixteen – Puck had been born when his mom was twenty-four, and Jenna when she was thirty-four. "I just didn't expect to see my dad's name on there too," he explained uncomfortably.

"I think it's time we talked to your mom about this, tell her that we know," Quinn suggested. "Maybe we can find...what's her name?" she asked suddenly when she realised that she still didn't even know what name had been given to Puck and Jenna's older sister.

"Just says Baby Girl," Puck replied sadly, he sighed and shook his head, he was so glad that he'd been able to give Beth her name, and that Shelby had chosen to keep that name, it felt like she meant something to them, that they would mean something to her. "Must be hard to not even have a name to think of," he added with some insight.

"I bet your mom has always thought of her with a name," Quinn assured Puck. "Alrighty, this little miss is just about to drop off for her afternoon nap and I'm going to get dinner started and then lie down for a rest too, my ankles are really swollen today," she sighed. "It's your nanna's recipe chicken casserole for dinner by the way, with green beans and baked potatoes so it doesn't matter if you're running late, just give me a call when you set off from base, alright?" she requested.

"I will," Puck replied. "I'll see you tonight, love you," he murmured and then made kissy sounds into his phone – once he'd glanced around to make sure he was still totally alone.

"Love you too, bye," Quinn giggled before she ended the call. "Your Uncle Puck is totally nuts, you know that, right?" she murmured to the snoozing baby as she laid her in her crib. "But I love him anyway," she whispered and then picked up the baby monitor to take downstairs with her.

* * *

"I think I'm going to go over to Noah and Quinn's house after dinner," Jenna said as soon as she walked in from school.

"That's good, do you want to borrow the car?" Ruth asked. She didn't like to make a fuss but she was pleased that Jenna seemed to be taking more interest in everything. At first, when they'd come home from the hospital, back to their own house, Jenna had sunk into a depression that seriously rivaled Quinn's skank period. She didn't want to get up, she didn't want to shower, she didn't want to get dressed, she didn't want to go to school, she didn't want to see any of her friends, not even her glee friends – and they'd all been there for her the whole way through her pregnancy. Jenna had just wanted to hibernate from life, hide away from the rest of the world – until she had her head back together again. Now it seemed like she had.

"Yes, please," Jenna replied and smacked a kiss on her mom's cheek. "What are you making?" she asked. Jenna was surprised that she suddenly felt hungry again, it seemed like months since she'd actually felt the need to eat – and if her clothes were anything to go by, she had certainly lost all of that baby weight…and more besides.

"It's just lentil stew," Ruth answered, "smells good, doesn't it?" she grinned over her shoulder as she stirred. "You look tired, sweetie," she told her daughter, "still not sleeping much?"

"Not really," Jenna admitted and then sat down at the kitchen table. "Mom?" she began gently, she wasn't really sure how to broach this, but she needed to know, she had to learn how to cope.

"Yes?" Ruth said as she sat down too, she could leave dinner to take care of itself for a while, her daughter needed her to be focused.

"I know that we have a sister," Jenna began and then stopped at the sound her mom made. Jenna glanced at her mom's shocked face. "I'm not sure if Noah knows, but I know," she explained and then waited.

Every single molecule in Ruth's body was trembling, it was like she was in some crazy parallel world or something, out of time with everything, everyone. She swallowed a few times before she tested her voice. "Ho-how do you know that?" she stuttered and then gulped again, her heart was beating at a ridiculous pace, a dangerous pace!

"I can't remember when I didn't know it," Jenna replied, she was focused on the table top, on making patterns with the salt and pepper pots rather than looking at her mom. "I remember hearing you and dad fight about it, every time you argued about anything, it always came back to that, to you shouting at dad telling him he didn't do enough to help you keep her, to dad shouting at you about dropping out of high school and being a waitress with a baby and then you'd be crying and shouting back that you were only fifteen years old and he should have known better, and then once dad left I never thought about it until I heard you saying something about it when you were on the phone to nanna, you know after Noah told you about Quinn?" she explained, Ruth nodded and bit her lip nervously, she vaguely remembered the conversation – even after all those years. "When Noah told you, I was under the table you see and when he went upstairs, you called nanna, you told her that Noah had screwed up, you said he'd done the same as you, followed in your footsteps, but at least he'd waited till he was actually sixteen to get caught in that trap – those were your words, they've stuck in my mind all these years," she added and then glanced up.

"So you've known for over eleven years," Ruth said, her voice was husky, totally not like her usual voice, "that you have a sister?" she asked, she had to be clear.

"I didn't understand it then, but those words have stayed with me, stuck in my mind and then one day, they made sense," Jenna explained.

"Does Noah know?" Ruth asked and then swallowed hard again, she felt sick, physically sick.

"I don't know," Jenna answered honestly, "I've never told him," she added, "but he might have picked it up like I did," she suggested, her mom had obviously forgotten that Jenna had already told her that part.

"I think I'll come over with you this evening, maybe we'll get your dad to come over too, get this all out in the open," Ruth announced – suddenly, she felt lighter than she had in years like a bright light had suddenly come on in her life!

"I'll give them a call, make sure they don't have plans," Jenna said as she left the table. Jenna wasn't sure if she was happy that she'd helped her mom to open up the floodgates to the past or if it was something to be feared, regretted even. Only time would tell.

* * *

"Of course, you can all come over," Quinn agreed happily, she really wanted Jenna to see the changes in Scarlett, how much more alert she was, how much stuff she noticed, all the little things she could do now, like squeal just to make herself laugh – that tickled Quinn no end! "Puck, your mom, your sister and your dad are coming over after dinner," she said as soon as he answered her call. "If you could get away early I would be eternally grateful," she said sweetly, "despite what I said earlier, now I don't want you to be running late," she added.

"It's cool, I'm just about to leave," Puck replied as he tossed his uniform jacket and his cap onto the passenger seat of his truck before he climbed into the driver's seat. "I'll see you in about an hour and a half," he said and then ended the call. "Wonder what they all want?" Puck pondered to himself as he drove. "Maybe Jenna's finally changed her mind," he thought. "Ah, crap, I wanted to go over this information with Quinn tonight," he sighed. "Never mind, I've got three days off duty, we'll go through it then and maybe get a bit further, find out my sister's actual name, who adopted her, what she's doing now," he muttered.

The drive was over a lot sooner than Puck expected. "Shit, how the hell did that happen?" he asked himself as he pulled up on the drive outside their house. "It's freakin' bad news if you can't remember the drive and how you got here," he reminded himself – behaviour like that was what got people killed! "Hi, honey, I'm home," he called teasingly as he let himself in through the front door. "That smells really good, I am starving," he exclaimed. Quinn walked into the hallway from the kitchen. "Hi, baby," he murmured as he took Scarlett from Quinn's arms, she'd held the baby out to him. "I've missed you," he told the blinking, smiling, baby, "I missed your smile, I missed your laugh but I didn't miss your stinky diapers," he cooed. "No I didn't, I never miss your stinky diapers," he mock-growled as Scarlet began to giggle at the funny faces her Uncle Puck was pulling. "Hey," he murmured and then leaned over to kiss Quinn gently but thoroughly. "Look at you," he cried when he saw how her stomach had popped. "That definitely wasn't there when I left for work on Monday," he said with amazement.

"Yes it was," Quinn replied with a roll of her eyes, "this shirt just makes it stand out more," she excused. "And I managed to get us a sonogram appointment for Monday afternoon, you don't have to be back on base until Tuesday, do you?" she asked hopefully. "We can finally find out what we're having," she added, more to herself than to Puck, it wasn't his fault that he hadn't been able to get any free time to coincide with her sonogram appointments, and it wasn't his fault that she didn't want to find out the gender of the baby when he wasn't there, either.

"Nope," Puck answered with a satisfied sigh, "I'm yours for the next three days," he promised and gave Quinn a sexy little smirk as he glanced up and down her body, "and you're mine," he added with meaning and a whole lot of feeling. That was the worst part of his job, having to stay on base and not be here at home with Quinn, especially now that they had Scarlett, and especially now that Quinn was pregnant. Puck was more than a little apprehensive about what the future was going to bring, it worried him a great deal, how Quinn was going to manage. Puck had talked to his CO already, though neither of them had come up with a solution, but Puck was damn certain that something was going to have to change once the baby arrived, he really thought that Quinn was going to struggle, taking care of a toddler _and_ a newborn, maybe his CO was right, maybe it was time to rethink their living arrangements, maybe even get a house on base, or, at least, close by so that he could be home every night. Puck allowed his mind to wander a little, he would absolutely love that, being home every night, being with his family every night, being in bed with Quinn every night, being able to _be_ with Quinn every…single…night…

* * *

"Hi," Quinn cried as she opened the door to their guests. "Come on in, Puck's in there with Scarlett," she informed them as she took their coats. "Does anyone want a drink? Anything to eat?" she asked.

"No, we're fine thanks," Ruth and Jenna answered together.

"A beer, maybe," Jim Puckerman mumbled, he glanced at his ex-wife, he knew she'd have something to grumble about anyway, so it was just sometimes easier if he lived up to her expectations – or down to them, it depended on your viewpoint.

"No problem, I was just going to get Puck a beer too," Quinn lied to smooth the way. She watched her in-laws traipse into the lounge and then hurried to the kitchen to get two beers and two glasses. "Here you go," she said as she handed them out. Puck took the beer and the glass and gave Quinn a slightly puzzled look, she winked at him and made a silent 'shh' to discourage him from asking why. Puck got it, she must have done it to cover for his dad putting his foot in it as usual with his mom.

Ruth had taken Scarlett from Puck and was talking nonsense with her granddaughter, she really wanted to say something about beer and the baby but she didn't because she noticed how Jenna was twitching like she was almost itching to take the baby for a cuddle but was afraid to. Ruth made a decision, she stood and without warning – or seemingly even looking at her daughter - dumped the baby in her lap! "Oh, my word," she cried. "Look at this," she said as she pressed her hand to Quinn's baby bump. Ruth hugged Quinn. "Sorry, I just wanted Jenna to hold the baby," she whispered quietly into Quinn's ear.

"Good job," Quinn praised back, just as quietly, they both turned to look at Jenna and Scarlett. The sight of them brought Quinn to tears, happy, wonderful tears, but at the same time, it almost broke her heart.

Puck's heart was in his mouth, what the hell was his mother thinking? Hadn't she been the one to discourage him from taking such a direct approach? Hadn't he wanted to force the issue with Jenna, make her see that being first in her baby's life didn't mean giving up her own life? And then he looked at his sister – this was what they wanted for her, this was what they had all hoped for her, that she would be able to have a relationship with Scarlett that wasn't bent by adoption, by giving up.

"You're still her mommy," Puck told Jenna quietly as his sister cried silent tears, her daughter hugged up close to her heart. "I love being Uncle Puck, and Quinn loves being Aunt Quinn and if you want her to, if you need her to, she can stay here with us till you're done with high school and done with college, but you'll always be her mom," he advised and drew both his sister and his niece into his huge embrace.

"Thank you," Jenna sniffed, she didn't know how to put her gratitude into words. "I think I want to be her mom," she finally admitted.

"You're welcome to stay here for a while if you want to ease into it gently," Quinn offered softly, she really hoped that Jenna would because she would seriously miss Scarlett if she was to suddenly disappear out of her life.

"I think that's an excellent solution," Ruth agreed. "It will give us time to get a nursery set up at our house," she added as if to give extra credence to the offer.

"Plus Scarlett is used to us, it won't be such a big change for her," Puck added, he looked at Quinn's face, saw the slight touch of sadness in her eyes – he knew that she had loved every second of being Scarlett's 'mom', but at the same time, they both wanted Jenna to be that too.

"Thank you," Jenna whispered, her voice was husky, broken, she couldn't really talk, "all of you, for knowing that this is the right thing even when I was too stubborn and too scared to think about it," she added and looked at all of he family. "And I know you all know how I feel, you've all been through it yourselves after all," she ended with a sigh as she sniffed her daughter's sweet, soft hair.

"Wait, what?" Puck cried as he realised exactly what his sister had said. "You know?" he demanded. Jenna nodded. "How?" he asked.

"I overheard, years ago and I think I've just always known," Jenna admitted with a shrug and kissed Scarlett's head.

"What are they talking about?" Jim whispered to Ruth, he wasn't quite sure what was going on – he'd been a bit surprised when Ruth had called and invited him to come with them. Actually, if he was being totally honest, he hadn't been invited to come, he'd been ordered to come, Ruth had said there was something serious to discuss and they all needed to be there, Jim had assumed it was to do with Scarlett's adoption – apparently not, but he wished someone would tell him what the hell was going on!

"They are talking about our daughter," Ruth replied and saw Jim glance at Jenna. "Our _other_ daughter," she added to make it clear. "They know," she explained when she saw the touch of fear in Jim's eyes.

"Ho-how do they know that?" Jim asked nervously and looked at his son – he liked the relationship that they had built over the last few years, it wasn't always comfortable and Jim was wary of screwing up, but it was still a relationship.

"Jenna overheard us arguing before we split up," Ruth explained, "she heard even more when Noah told me about Quinn being pregnant with Beth," she added and reached out for Quinn's hand – she knew exactly how emotional her daughter-in-law would be feeling right now. Quinn sucked in a tiny breath, Ruth gave her a sympathetic look and then continued with her tale. "So, I suppose the best thing is to tell you all of it," she said with a sigh and made herself comfortable on the sofa in between her daughter and Quinn.

Ruth took a deep breath and allowed her mind to float back, way back, back to when she was an incredibly naive fifteen-year-old. Ruth looked at Jim, saw him hang his head slightly, she knew he was going to feel uncomfortable, but it had to be said, her kids had to know, they had to know about their sister. "We always knew each other from school and from temple," Ruth began, she waited for Jim to jump in, tell his side first, but he stayed silent. "My mom had just had a baby," Ruth said, starting her tale again, she had to come at it from another angle.

"Yes, Aunt Karen," Jenna agreed and frowned, she wondered what on earth that had to do with anything.

"That's right, Aunt Karen," Ruth said, nodding her head as she spoke, she looked at her son, he hadn't said a word but he looked worried, scared almost. "Well, my mom's sister, my Aunt Miriam," she added and saw the puzzled looks on both of her children's faces. "Yes, I know, you've never met her," she said and sighed as she felt the emotion bubbling up inside her. "Anyway, my Aunt Miriam was married to your dad's Uncle Herman and no, you've never met him either," she mumbled the last part, "in fact, oh God, this is going to get confusing," she muttered. "Anytime, you know, if you want to explain things, you can, you know?" she growled at Jim.

"I think you're doing a good job of mentioning every family member without getting to the point all by yourself," Jim replied. "See, the thing is, we were too young, your mom was way too young and I should have been shot for getting her pregnant in the first place," he explained – his eyes were on his son, he knew that Noah would know exactly what he meant. "Yes, I know, we should have told you when Quinn was pregnant, we should have told you when you were pregnant," he said with a sigh as he glanced at his daughter, his eyes softened as she cuddled her own daughter close. "But, anyway, when our parents found out, besides threatening me with military school or sending me to Israel, they also told us we couldn't keep it, we wouldn't be allowed to keep our baby, plus they wouldn't allow us to carry on seeing each other," he admitted. "So, your mom was sent to Akron to live with her aunt and my uncle, they couldn't have kids themselves, so when the baby was born, they took her, adopted her, and we were told we couldn't have any contact with any of them, they moved soon after and didn't tell anyone where they went, they just cut everyone out of their lives, we haven't heard from them in I don't know, thirty, thirty-five years," Jim explained.

"We haven't heard from them in thirty-three and a half years," Ruth said huskily, "Aunt Miriam sent a picture when they moved to Chicago and she was beautiful, she looked just like you," she told Jenna, "both of you, actually, you all have the same eyes," she croaked as her voice broke. "It broke my heart when you gave Beth up because I knew exactly how much it hurt you both and I wouldn't wish that on anyone and when you gave Jenna another option, I was so grateful," she sobbed. "I'm sorry," she apologised and then cried as first Puck and then Jenna – once she'd handed Scarlett over to Quinn – gathered her into their arms, the three of them together in a huddle.

"Ah, crap," Jim muttered as he too joined them in the huddle. Puck moved slightly for his dad to get in closer. "We should have stood up to them," he murmured as Ruth cried into his shoulder. "It was at the root of all our problems," he reminded her.

"No, it wasn't," Ruth denied Jim's claim. "You couldn't keep your pants zipped," she muttered, " _that_ was the root of our problems," she told her contrite ex-husband.

"Yeah, like I said," Jim muttered and nudged Ruth, "even when we were kids we couldn't keep our hands off each other," he reminded her.

"Ew, please stop talking," Jenna begged from inside her mom's cuddling arms.

"Is there any way of contacting her?" Quinn asked. "Is there anyone in the family who will know where they are?"

Jim and Ruth looked at each other with slightly suspicious eyes. "Uncle Abe," they both said at the exact same time.

"So, call him," Puck advised softly.

* * *

"I just can't believe it," Puck sighed as he snuggled up to Quinn in their bed. "I mean, I'm glad that Jenna decided to stay to be with Scarlett, but it's a bit weird that my dad offered to go and stay with my mom," he muttered and then rubbed his hands over Quinn's stomach.

"I think they need to talk to each other about it all," Quinn murmured as sleep tried to claim her.

"Hey, did you feel that?" Puck whispered as he felt a nudge from the inside. "That was a really strong kick," he praised. "Quinn?" he said and nudged her again. "Quinn? Baby?"

"I'm not ignoring you, I'm asleep," Quinn lied, her words were barely audible, she was so, so tired.

"I'm sorry," Puck sighed and scooched even closer, his entire front touched every part of Quinn's back. "I miss this when I'm on duty," he murmured into her ear. "I miss sleeping with you, I miss waking up with you, I miss loving you, I just miss you," he admitted.

"I miss you too," Quinn replied, sleep was drifting further and further away with every stroke of Puck's hand over her baby bump. "That's my boobs, not the baby," she warned quietly.

"I know," Puck whispered and then kissed Quinn's neck, that special little place under her left ear that always, absolutely always, turned her on in an instant!

Quinn pushed back so that she laid on her back, Puck leaned over her. "And just like that," she sighed just before their lips touched, "she was wide awake," she added and then deepened their kiss.

"Maybe I'm too tired," Puck teased against her lips.

"It'd be the first time ever," Quinn giggled back. "You're never too tired," she murmured as she drew Puck's head back to her own, touched his lips with her own again. "But be quiet, I think Jenna's in the nursery with Scarlett," she moaned as Puck finally entered her.

"No worries, babe," Puck sighed into her mouth. "Oh, God," he groaned as sensations rippled over his skin, through his entire body. "You're awesome," he told her sincerely, "totally fucking awesome."

* * *

"…so, if you could call, we'd really appreciate it, the number is…" Ruth said with a sigh as she ended yet another call with a message on an impersonal machine.

"No luck?" Jim asked as he took the opposite seat at the kitchen table.

"No, not yet," Ruth replied with a deep sigh, she was feeling less and less positive as every day passed. "Who'd have thought there were that many Puckermans in Chicago?" she grumbled.

"Maybe I'll go see Gordon," Jim suggested as he racked his brain to try to remember someone from back in the day who might still be in contact with his uncle or Ruth's aunt.

"Gordon who?" Ruth asked curiously, she couldn't ever remember hearing about anyone called Gordon.

"He was the guy who came over here from Scotland," Jim replied, "don't you remember?" he asked and then sat back with a smile. "He was one of my dad's best friends, but he was Uncle Herman's friend too, he might know something," he suggested.

"Fine, let me know, alright?" Ruth answered and then sighed again, she was so tired, so emotional and she couldn't wait for Jenna and Scarlett to come home. "Did you finish painting the nursery?" she asked.

"Yep, it's all done," Jim answered with a proud smile. "Are you sure this is the best idea?" he asked, he really didn't know if it was a good idea for Jenna to take the baby from Quinn and Noah, he thought she might regret it, especially when it came time for her to go away to college.

"I really do think it's the best thing," Ruth replied and nodded her head, her soft silvery hair glinted in the warm evening sunshine that was streaming in through the kitchen windows. It was something that both amused and annoyed Ruth since her hair had grown back in, it was very thin and very light - but, at least, she had hair again, for which she was eternally grateful.

"Ok, so, I think I'm going to go home tonight," Jim murmured as he rose from the table. "I'll be back tomorrow to finish off the room, get the furniture and the carpet in place," he added and then paused.

"You're welcome to stay another night," Ruth murmured back, she placed her hand over his where it rested on the table. "Please," she whispered as she looked up into Jim's eyes, "I really don't want to be alone right now," she added just before her voice broke.

"Ok," Jim agreed quietly and without any fuss. "I'll stay," he reassured his fragile ex-wife. "I better let Noah know how she is, she really seems to have lost all the weight she'd put back on, she looks terrible," he noted silently to himself.

"Thank you," Ruth barely managed to say, but her words were heartfelt and sincere.

* * *

"My dad is staying with my mom again," Puck sighed as he scooched back down onto the sofa with Quinn. "He says she's not looking too well," he muttered sadly.

"I noticed," Quinn answered quietly as Puck got comfortable behind her. "Here," she said, "feel this, the baby's going nuts right now," she giggled, she knew Puck would accept the distraction, he needed it, it had been a very, very long week following the revelations the previous weekend.

"We're going to have to start thinking of some names," Puck reminded Quinn as he reached around her front to feel his son kick the crap out of his mother's bladder.

"Jake," Quinn answered quickly, she'd been thinking about it all week since Puck had been back on duty. "Jacob Noah Puckerman," she stated firmly.

"I think that's perfect," Jenna commented quietly from the doorway. "Scarlett's down for the night, I'm going to go to bed, I'm exhausted, it's been a really long week at school," she grumbled slightly, she really was wondering if she would be able to hack it.

"I know," Puck agreed with his sister, "but you'll be fine once you take Scarlett home," he reminded her. "Mom will be there, dad's going to be there too, apparently," he added and pulled a weird face at his sister – neither of them could quite believe that their mom would forgive their dad and ask him to move in with her – but it seemed to be going in that direction! "Plus, Aaron wants to be involved too, now that he knows you aren't giving her up for adoption," he added quietly. "And he better shape up," Puck thought to himself, "I have friends who could get rid of him without a fucking trace." Puck's face did not betray his thoughts – he schooled his features well.

"I know he does," Jenna sighed, she looked slightly uncomfortable. "Do you think I'm stupid for getting back together with him?" she asked and then plonked herself down in the huge easy chair in the corner of the room. "I mean, I know that you two had plenty of breaks since Beth was born before you finally settled down and tied the knot," she muttered, "and don't worry, I'm not going to be so stupid as to get pregnant again," she added and rolled her eyes before her brother could say a word. "I mean, I'm never even going to have sex again," she whispered to herself, "ever!"

"Yeah, right," Puck spluttered. "Sure you will, and you'll enjoy it," he assured his blushing sister. "Just make sure you're protected," he advised.

"I have an OB appointment next week," Quinn interrupted Puck's laughter. "I can make you an appointment for contraception," she suggested and gave the young girl a knowing smile. "Better to be safe than sorry," she singsonged.

Jenna blushed even more and groaned. "Fine," she replied, she was really embarrassed.

"Just make sure, if you do decide to do it again," Puck said mock-sternly, "you make that idiot wear a condom, as well as you using any and all contraception given to you by Dr Heathcote," he insisted.

"That idiot is my daughter's father," Jenna reminded Puck.

"Yeah, I know," Puck agreed and grinned at his sister. "Now shut up, I'm watching this movie," he grumbled. Jenna snickered with laughter as she stood up to go up to her room. "Night," Puck called quietly as she reached the doorway.

"Night," Jenna replied, just as quietly, she smiled as Quinn blew her a kiss. "Thank you, both of you," she whispered and then left before anyone could say anything else.

* * *

Jim received the call first, and after making arrangements, drove to Chicago alone. He chose not to share the information with anyone, he wanted to make sure that things would work out before he got Ruth's hopes up. "Hi, I'm Jim," Jim introduced himself to the woman already seated in the diner.

"Anna," the woman responded politely. "So, you're my father?" she asked without any preamble.

"Your _birth_ father," Jim corrected, he'd had a full on lesson and discussion with Noah about how he shouldn't expect to be acknowledged as a 'father' in this instance. "Herman is your dad," he reminded her.

"Herman _was_ my dad," Anna agreed, "but you're my father, without you I wouldn't be here," she commented reasonably. "So do I get to meet my mother too?" she asked.

"Ruth would love to meet you," Jim replied, joy and happiness shot through him, it seemed like the daughter they had given up was open to meeting with her birth family.

"Ok," Anna said quietly as if that was that, all arranged, no hard feelings. Jim was worried by the calmness, it unnerved him slightly though he couldn't say why…

* * *

"Dad said to meet him here," Puck repeated the answer to both his mom and his sister. "No, thank you, we're just waiting for someone to join us, then we'll order," he replied to the waitress – whose face was disturbingly familiar, though Puck couldn't remember her, he hoped that Quinn couldn't either!

"I need breadsticks, lots of them," Quinn whispered to the waitress and drew attention to her huge stomach. "What?" she demanded when Puck gave her _that_ look, that questioning sort of look. "Jacob is hungry," she pouted and drew soothing circles on her stomach with her hands.

"Jacob is not hungry, _you're_ hungry," Puck corrected Quinn and then leaned over a touch to kiss her shiny lips. "And we'll be eating as soon as my dad gets here," he reminded her.

"Whenever _that_ is," Ruth grumbled. "It's cold in here, don't you think?" she asked as she shivered. "I think they turned up the air conditioning," she muttered. Puck grinned to himself as long forgotten memories surfaced. He glanced at Quinn and winked, she remembered the old Cheerios trick too – no bra, super cold aircon, it worked every time!

"There's dad," Jenna announced which made them all look round towards the door of the restaurant. "Who's that with him?" she muttered, she felt a bit annoyed that her dad had brought a woman with him…a woman and a kid. "Please, no, he's not going to tell us he has another family, is he?" she asked herself silently – it was something that Jenna had secretly dreaded for years.

"Hi," Jim said nervously as he approached the table. "Everyone, I'd like you to meet Anna," he said and ushered the woman forwards.

"Hello," Anna said, her eyes darted over the people who were sat around the table. She was impressed that the man stood up. "You must be Noah," she said as Puck reached over to shake her hand, "my little brother," she squeaked as her voice broke and the emotions overflowed.

"Oh," Ruth cried, her hand flew to her trembling lips, she couldn't move, she was shaking, she was shivering, she just couldn't do anything.

"And you must be Ruth, my mother," Anna added and sobbed as she bent to hug the woman who had given birth to her. "You're Jenna, right? My little sister?" she asked Jenna, Jenna could only nod. "And that leaves Noah's wife, I've forgotten your name, I'm sorry, Jim told me but I've forgotten," she apologised.

"Quinn," Quinn introduced herself. "Your sister-in-law," she added with a little giggle, it was quite a surreal situation.

"And who's this?" Puck asked, indicating the teenaged boy who was just behind Anna.

"This is my son," Anna announced and urged the boy forwards. "Jake Puckerman, meet your nanna, your aunts, and your uncle," she said.

"No way," Quinn cried, she was amazed, she glanced at Puck. "Jake?" she said in a slightly puzzled way.

"We'd sort of decided to call the baby Jake," Puck explained when both Anna and the teenager looked confused. "We'd thought of Jacob Noah Puckerman," he told his mom. "So, I guess I'm your uncle Puck," he said to Jake. "We better come up with a different name, we can't have cousins called the same thing, now can we?"

Ruth still hadn't been able to say a word, she was just in bits. "Anna?" she whispered. "They named you Anna?" she asked tremulously. Ruth had wanted to call her baby 'Anna', it was the reason they'd chosen the name 'Jenna' because it was close to the same sound.

"Yes," Anna replied quietly as she looked quite intently at her birth mother. Anna knew that Ruth had been sick, and she could tell from the pictures she'd seen from before that she'd been terribly, terribly sick – Anna hoped it didn't run in the family.

"Oh," Ruth sighed, "I wanted to call you Anna, I've always thought of you as Anna," she murmured, she could barely speak through her trembling lips.

"And who's this?" Anna asked, copying Puck's words and pointing at Scarlett in her highchair.

"This is your niece, Scarlett," Puck replied when it seemed that Jenna was struck dumb. "Our little sister, Jenna's daughter," he explained.

"Wow, another teen mom," Anna murmured.

"Yeah, we did that too," Puck admitted and caught hold of Quinn's hand as he sat down again and Anna, Jake, and Jim took their seats around the table. "We might as well get it all out there," he suggested. "So, mom and dad had you when they were still in high school," he said and saw the look that passed over his mom's face. "We had a daughter too, when we were sixteen, we gave her up for adoption and we get to exchange birthday, Christmas and Hanukkah cards and gifts, well, we send Beth the gifts, she sends us cards, which is great, her adoptive mother is really good at sending us reports and stuff, but she lives in England now so it's not like we can visit too easily."

"And I take it you're about the same age?" Anna asked Jenna, she still didn't have everything straight in her head.

"Yep, sixteen too," Jenna sighed, "and I was going to give Scarlett up, Noah and Quinn were going to take her for me, but," she explained quietly and then paused, she didn't want to seem insensitive.

"But she realised that with all of us behind her, supporting her," Puck took up the tale, "that she could do it, she could break the chain," he added and nudged Jenna's foot under the table. "And it makes me happy to threaten her ass of a boyfriend now and again, make sure he toes the line," he admitted.

"So, I had Jake when I was seventeen," Anna said and glanced at her son. "His father and I never married, he was already married when we met, he just never told me, not till after I found I was pregnant and then he ran, back to his wife and his other kids," she sighed. "I've never met anyone else I wanted to have around Jake," she explained. "We do ok for ourselves, don't we?" she asked her son and lovingly scuffed the back of his dark head. "My dad didn't ever get over the fact that Jake is mixed race," she commented.

"Why?" Jenna asked, she was very puzzled about that. "He's just the same as Scarlett's dad," she pointed out – no one in her family had ever mentioned that Scarlett's father was mixed race, they only ever mentioned that he was Jewish.

Jake shrugged, he was used to not being accepted in either camp, he was too white for his black friends and too black for his white friends, it was why he immersed himself in dance, to forget everything, ignore everything…well, almost everything. "People call me Puck too, by the way," Jake said with a half smile that was really reminiscent of Puck's. "I also have a daughter," he added, "she's just a year old, she lives with her mom, my girlfriend, Marley, she's called Alicia Rose and she's amazing," he explained and then dragged his phone from his pocket to show off the pictures of his little girl.

"I think it's definitely in the genes," Quinn whispered to Puck and then rubbed her hand over her belly. "You better learn something about contraception before you start kindergarten," she warned her unborn son. "Maybe we better call Shelby, tell her to lock Beth up already," she suggested.

"Hey, it's a family trait," Anna cried with humour, "it's kind of nice to have something in common," she said a little coyly.

"Did you always know you were adopted?" Puck asked suddenly, he really wanted to know that his sister's life had been good, that his mom and dad had given her the best life possible – so that he could justify to himself that he and Quinn hadn't made a mistake in having Beth adopted.

"Yes, my mom and dad were open about it," Anna answered as she picked up the menu. "Well, semi-open about it," she corrected herself. "I mean, I never knew that they knew my birth parents, much less that they were related to them, though I don't know why that was a surprise, because I resemble my mom, and I can see that you look quite like her," she informed Ruth. "Jake has a look of my dad about him, and I can see the family resemblance in the nose and the eyes in both you guys," she told her Jim and Puck. "I think we look really alike," she said to Jenna and gave her hand a little nudge. "In fact, if you look at all of us, we're all very similar," she commented, "except maybe for you," she added teasingly to Quinn. "You're far too blonde to be a Puckerman," she said with an endearing smile.

"I know, Beth's still a blondie too," Quinn agreed and brought out pictures of Beth to share with Anna and Jake. "This little miss is just like her momma, though, aren't you, sweetie?" she crooned to Scarlett, Scarlett giggled and slapped her hands down on the highchair's table.

"How much longer?" Anna asked with a nod towards Quinn's stomach.

"Nine more weeks," Quinn answered with a heavy sigh. "And I can't wait," she muttered as her stomach moved all by itself. "He is super active, day and night," she commented.

"Noah was like that and I think he was about five before he sat down," Ruth kindly informed Quinn.

"Jake too," Anna added happily, she and Ruth grinned at each other, two co-conspirators together. "You know, I feel like I've known you all of my life," she said quietly and then took hold of Ruth's cold hands. "I trained as a nurse, you know," she said, "I gave up work to take care of my mom when she was diagnosed with breast cancer," she explained. "She's been gone three and a half years now and I still miss her every single day," she sniffed and then wiped a tear from her eye. "My dad developed Alzheimer's," she told them with a sigh. "It became more and more difficult to take care of him, we lost him just over a year ago, he'd had to go into assisted living, he got out of the unit one day and just walked into the lake in the grounds," she explained. "They didn't find him until the next day, he'd drowned in about four inches of water," she said and then blew out a breath as though expelling all the tension she felt.

"I'm so sorry for your loss," Quinn murmured politely, the words echoed by the others around the table.

"Can we eat?" Jake asked, he wanted to get to know his new family but he was hungry. "I'm starved," he exclaimed dramatically.

"You're always starving," Anna replied with a snort of laughter.

"Just like your uncle Puck," Quinn exclaimed – her voice was louder than she'd intended it to be, the baby had just somersaulted in her stomach and caused her to lurch to the side. "You know, I hate it when he does that," she grumbled.

"No you don't," Puck contradicted, "you love being pregnant," he reminded Quinn. "Especially now your belly stands out," he commented as he rubbed his hand over the solid mound. "Plus, you look so hot right now," he whispered close to her ear. Quinn winked and smirked, she could not dispute a single word he said, Puck was totally right – except for the hot part, Quinn didn't think she looked hot at all, her hormones were going crazy and she was super turned on by Puck all of the time – but she didn't for one second think that Puck was turned on by her just now…how wrong she was and he proved it to her all night long!


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Ownership is neither claimed nor implied, the author does not make any profit from this work of fiction.**

 **A/N: "...call me uncle Puck…** **"**

"Puck," Quinn whispered in the early hours of the morning. "Puck," she hissed a little louder. "Goddamnit Puck, wake up," she yelled when he didn't make a move, and then she punched him in the middle of his back - hard, she punched him really, really hard!

"Shit, Quinn, what is it, is it the baby?" Puck asked in a gravelly, sleep-husky voice.

"Of course not," Quinn scoffed. "I'm hungry, I want some frozen yogurt," she mumbled with an endearing pout.

"You woke me up," Puck growled and glanced at the clock on the nightstand, "at three in the fucking morning, to tell me you want yogurt?" he demanded crossly. Quinn nodded a touch uncertainly, she bit her lip and looked at Puck through her lashes - exactly like she had at the tender age of sixteen when she had so desperately wanted to be everything to him like he was to her. "What flavour?" Puck sighed as he climbed out of bed – he didn't even want to count the hours he had left till he had to be back on base, back on duty.

"Call me from the store, tell me what they have," Quinn suggested brightly and at the same time subtly informed Puck that she wanted something they didn't already have in the house. Quinn sighed with pleasure at the thought of the frozen dessert on her tongue, on her lips…but she couldn't make her mind up, she wanted about thirty different flavours all at the same time! "Baby Puckerman says thank you," she added sweetly as Puck frowned and stomped away towards the stairs.

"Baby fucking Puckerman, nothing," Puck muttered as he backed off the drive. Puck grumbled to himself the entire way to the store, he had sort of forgotten that Quinn had regularly woken up in the middle of the night with strange cravings when she was pregnant before - at least frozen yogurt wasn't strange and was readily available. "What the hell does she do when I'm on base? Does she go by her freakin' self?" he asked his reflection in the rearview mirror. Puck sighed again as another thought struck him. "That's probably why my dad said thank God you're home," he reminded himself as he pulled up close to the entrance to Walmart. "Yeah, yeah, pregnant wife," Puck grumbled to the attendant when the young man looked him up and down and Puck suddenly realised that he'd pulled his shorts on inside out and he hadn't even bothered with a shirt - he'd simply slipped his feet into his flip flops, picked up his phone, his wallet and his keys and headed out of the house to satisfy Quinn's deepest desire. "And you're the fucking fashion police, you're fucking lucky I remembered the shorts," he muttered in the guy's direction when he turned to serve another late night customer. Puck frowned and ignored the other couple of shoppers as he headed towards the huge freezers at the back of the store. "Alrighty then," he cried with fake cheer when Quinn finally answered his call – his _third_ call, actually, the first two had rung and rung and then gone to voicemail! "We have vanilla bean, Neapolitan, peanut butter cup, black cherry, mint choc chip, cookies and," he was cut off before he could finish listing the flavours.

"Peanut butter cup, black cherry and vanilla, please," Quinn requested excitedly. "And hurry, baby is really desperate," she begged.

"I'll be as quick as I can," Puck replied and picked up the flavours that Quinn had asked for.

"Thank you," Quinn moaned around her first mixed mouthful of black cherry and peanut butter cup frozen yogurt. "Your dad called while you were out to ask if I wanted anything bringing," she commented as she dug deep into the cartons. "He said that he was driving around with Scarlett and Jenna because Scarlett wouldn't settle after her shots this afternoon, I hate shots, don't you?" she asked conversationally. "Puck?" she called and nudged him. "Are you asleep?" she asked quietly.

"Nope," Puck muttered through a barely disguised snore, "and it depends on the shots," he mumbled lazily. "I prefer Jack Daniels but vodka will do at a push," he joked quietly, though he didn't open his eyes and neither did he turn over to look at Quinn. Puck stayed settled on his side, ready to be fully asleep as soon as Quinn let him...or sooner…if he couldn't...manage…to stay...awake...

"Go to sleep," Quinn suggested quietly and then continued to consume her delicious, frozen treats. "Your daddy is very good to us," she whispered to her very swollen belly. "And in a couple more weeks you'll be able to meet him for real," she murmured. It still made Quinn giggle that Puck talked and sang to her stomach so that the baby would know his voice when he finally broke out into the big wide world. Quinn sighed happily as she ate, she shuffled down in the bed slightly to make herself more comfortable. Suddenly, Quinn felt a jerk in her stomach, a jolt, as though the baby had shifted position quite dramatically. The flood between her thighs made her sit up with a start. Quinn lifted the comforter and looked at her damp pyjamas. "Erm, Puck," she began nervously, quietly. "Puck?" she said again a little more firmly.

"What?" Puck sighed tiredly, he didn't turn over, he waited for Quinn to tell him she wanted a lump of coal to eat with her frozen yogurt, or something equally ridiculous.

"Erm, Puck, I think my water broke," Quinn whispered nervously, she was still in the same position, with the comforter lifted and looking at the wet patch between her legs.

"Seriously?" Puck demanded and sprang into action as Quinn nodded and burst into tears. "Cool," he yawned, he tried to be awake, like fully awake, like instantly awake. "Call Dr Heathcote," he suggested as he grabbed his clothes and headed to the bathroom. "Will I have time for a shower?" he asked and yawned again. "To wake myself up properly," he explained.

"Probably," Quinn replied with a pitiful sniff, "I haven't had any contractions yet," she added as she scrolled through her contacts for Dr Heathcote's number. "Hi, it's Quinn Puckerman," she answered when asked for her name. "Yes, Dr Heathcote's service, please," she added and then waited to be transferred. "Could you run me a bath, please?" she called to Puck, she hoped he'd hear her over the sound of the running water. "Well, yes, my water broke about ten minutes ago, I haven't had any actual contractions yet, I mean, I can feel my stomach tightening and relaxing but I don't feel any pain yet," she explained, she felt better just for talking to her doctor, she felt calmer and more in control. "Puck just ran me a bath, will that be ok? To go have a soak?" she asked.

"Of course," Dr Heathcote replied and then he asked a few pertinent questions, gave some advice and reminded Quinn of a few details. "Give me a call in an hour or so, or sooner if you start to feel any pain, ok?" he suggested. "And Quinn, make sure you time those tightening sensations," he advised for the second time.

"I will," Quinn replied and ended the call as Puck came back into the bedroom, now showered and dressed.

"I got your bath ready," Puck told Quinn, he sounded nervous and excited and petrified, he _felt_ nervous and excited and petrified too, and probably a million other emotions that he just hadn't had time to process yet. "How do you feel?" he asked.

"Nervous," Quinn replied in a shivering voice, she still hadn't felt any pain, but she had timed the tightening feelings and they were consistently three minutes apart and lasted about a minute. Puck helped Quinn into the bathtub, he sat down on the edge of it and gently massaged Quinn's shoulders as she relaxed back and hummed. "It's starting to hurt now," she murmured and then breathed deeply. "I don't want to go to the hospital too soon, I don't want to be there for hours and hours," she explained as she massaged her stomach and waist.

"Just tell me what I can do for you," Puck offered, he needed to be needed but he didn't want to get in the way, and he really didn't want Quinn to yell at him and tell him that he sucked, not like she did the last time.

"Sing to me," Quinn requested with a tired smile. "You haven't sung to me for years, not to _me_ anyway, you sing to my belly, but not to me," she pouted and then looked at him with a smile. "Just sing something, anything, distract me," she pleaded. Puck grinned and began to sing one of his old favourites. "My name isn't Caroline but I am very sweet," Quinn giggled.

"Not when you're yelling at me that I suck," Puck reminded Quinn with a slight grin. "Do you want to get out yet?" he asked as he felt the water temperature, he thought it was a bit cool.

"Nope, I think I want to stay in here," Quinn groaned as a much stronger pain rolled through her. "Do you want to call anyone yet?" she asked.

"Not yet," Puck answered. "Except my CO, I'm going to have to call him, let him know I won't be reporting for duty this afternoon," he added. "Will you be ok while I go make the call?" he asked.

"I'll be fine," Quinn sighed the words as her body relaxed into the water.

Puck made the call and officially began his paternity leave. "Done," he announced as he walked back into the bathroom. "Woah," he cried when he looked at Quinn. Quinn was crouched in the bath, her hands were gripped tightly to the edge of the tub, she had leaned her face on her hands and she was trying desperately to control her breathing, but Puck could see that she was in quite some distress.

"Call Dr Heathcote, tell him the baby is coming now, like right now," Quinn growled, she didn't care if Puck panicked or was upset, she needed help and she needed it this instant!

"Dr Heathcote?" Puck said as Quinn let out a petrifying animalistic scream. "Yep, that was her, she's in the bath and I don't think I can move her," he said to the doctor. "1820 Loch Loman Way," Puck answered in response to the doctor's question. "Quinn, baby, Dr Heathcote is on his way, he said don't push, whatever you do, wait till he gets here, alright?" he soothed. "Jeez, I better call my mom and your mom," he muttered as he stroked Quinn's damp shoulders. "Baby, hold on," he urged as Quinn's entire body seemed to tense up, like she was gathering herself for the biggest workout, ever.

"I can't," Quinn groaned, "I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't," she cried and wept pitifully. "I didn't want it to be like this," she wailed. "It was supposed to be really calm and gentle and then the baby would be calm and would sleep better, all the baby books say so," she sobbed.

"I think we're just going to have to accept what is," Puck murmured, he didn't dare check his watch again, it felt like an hour since the last minute had passed, he wondered how much longer the doctor was going to be. Puck felt relief flood through him at the sound of sharp knocking on the front door. "That's the door, I have to go let Dr Heathcote in," he said as he tried to leave the bathroom. "Quinn, I have to go," he repeated, he tried to peel Quinn's grip from his arm. "Sorry, Dr Heathcote, I can't, she's gripped onto me like you wouldn't believe," he said into his phone when he answered the call. "Quinn? Honey? I have to let the doctor in, he has to examine you to see if we can get you to the hospital," Puck explained patiently.

"O-ok," Quinn agreed in a quivering, trembling voice. "But hurry," she begged as she began to cry all over again. "I don't want the baby to be born in the bathtub," she wailed pitifully.

Puck was back within seconds, the doctor followed him closely with a traditional black bag that Puck assumed held all sorts of mysterious instruments. "Quinn?" Dr Heathcote murmured as he knelt down beside the bathtub. "Quinn?" he said again to gain her attention. "May I examine you?" he requested gently. Quinn turned her frightened, watery eyes on the doctor, she wasn't sobbing or anything, just gently crying and making the most adorable whimpering sound. Quinn nodded at her doctor. "Great," he commented as he tugged a pair of disposable gloves on. "Just stay where you are, I can do everything I need to from here, can I let some of the water out?" he asked. "You know, Frank won't like the bubbles if he happens to come out right now," he joked and gave Puck a look of amusement.

"We still haven't decided on a name," Puck said, it had become something of a game to everyone who had any sort of involvement in the pregnancy, to suggest names, some of them were more suitable than others and one or two of them were real contenders. Frank wasn't in the running. Puck released the foamy water and, as directed by the doctor, turned the shower on and held it over Quinn's back and rinsed her off. Once all the bubbles had disappeared, Puck started to fill the tub once more, this time without the bubbles.

Quinn leaned forwards and hummed into the folded up towel that Puck had placed on the edge of the tub to cushion her head. This had definitely not been in her birth plan! "I need to push," she groaned as the sensation twisted through her body of its own accord.

"Puck, if you could take Quinn's hands," Dr Heathcote suggested quietly and guided Puck to the other end of the bath. "That's it," he murmured and tugged on another new pair of gloves. "Ok," he said a little louder, "this is it, you're fully dilated, just let your contractions do the work, the water is supporting you, gravity will do the rest," he advised and nodded to Puck over the top of Quinn's head. It wasn't the first time he had delivered a baby in this sort of position, but that was usually in a birthing pool at the hospital and he was usually well prepared for it, an unexpected delivery in a bathtub in a patient's home was slightly out of the ordinary, but it was a tale that would amuse and delight his teenage kids. "That's it Quinn, push," he encouraged as he felt the dome of the baby's head touch the palm of his hand. "And again," he coached, "you're doing really well," he praised.

Quinn cried up into Puck's equally distraught eyes. "Argh," she screamed as her whole body thrust and worked to deliver her child to the waiting world. "It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts," she chanted over and over again as her fingers gripped tightly into Pucks forearms. Quinn looked down, she noted a crescent-shaped scratch on Puck's arm with a tiny streak of blood. "Did I do that?" she sobbed, she felt so sad that she could do that to him when all he'd done was give her exactly what she had desired for years. "I'm sorry," she whispered and then braced herself with her head on his shoulder for the cycle to begin again, this time without respite.

Puck watched with the sensation of utter uselessness filling his soul, he couldn't do anything to take away her pain, he couldn't do anything to make this any easier for her, he couldn't do anything to make this any quicker for her. "I promise, right now, on my life, I will never, ever put her in this position again," he vowed silently, "this time I really will get a vasectomy," he added to himself. "That's it, baby," Puck encouraged. "You're doing it, you're doing it," he cried excitedly as Dr Heathcote supported the head and face of the tiny human who was emerging from Quinn's body. "Oh, God, Quinn, he's coming," he exclaimed, Puck couldn't even _think_ in coherent sentences, never mind _speak_!

Quinn made a monumental effort and pushed with everything that she had, every single bit of love, emotion, devotion and fear, everything, it all went into that one, huge push. "Argh," she yelled as her son slid into Dr Heathcote's gentle hands. Quinn surged forwards, Puck tugged her close, folded her into his arms, they were both crying, sobbing, the sheer excitement and emotion was just too much for them both.

"Congratulations," Dr Heathcote cried as Quinn turned over to slump in the water, exhausted from her efforts. "Here's your son," he added gently as he placed the baby on her chest. Dr Heathcote took a second to whip off his gloves and note the baby's first APGAR score. "When your body's ready we'll deliver the placenta, baby is fine still attached right now, it's not going to do him any harm," he assured both Puck and Quinn, though he wasn't sure they had even noticed the long veinous rope that was still attached to the baby's stomach and between Quinn's thighs.

"Hey, look at that," Puck whispered as his son's tiny mouth searched for and found Quinn's nipple. "He takes after me, alright," he muttered proudly, "I've always been a boob man," he reminded Quinn with a wink.

"Well, they're his boobs right now," Quinn replied, she couldn't take her eyes off her child, she was mesmerised, she'd checked his fingers and his toes, she'd stroked her hand over his slightly sticky head, he was beautiful and he hadn't even cried yet, everything had been so peaceful – despite how she'd felt an hour or so ago! "What are we going to call him?" she asked and looked up into Puck's love-filled eyes.

"What's your first name?" Puck asked Dr Heathcote.

"George," Dr Heathcote replied with a put-upon sigh. "Please don't saddle your son with that," he requested with more than a hint of humour.

"What's your full name?" Quinn asked as she looked up from her son's beautiful face.

"George Henry Lucas Heathcote," Dr Heathcote answered, he hated his full name, he thought that having three first names was beyond pretentious, but his parents had insisted on naming him after both of his grandfathers and his own dad.

"Lucas Finlay Puckerman," Quinn announced. "What do you think?" she asked Puck.

"Perfect," Puck replied happily and bent to kiss Quinn again.

"Alright, daddy, are you ready to cut the cord now?" Dr Heathcote asked, he hid his pleasure at being honoured like that behind his mask of professionalism. Puck nodded and braced himself, he hadn't been asked to do this the last time and it was something he both regretted and resented slightly, he had wanted to be given that special task, just like all the dads in all the soppy movies that Quinn had spent her entire teenage pregnancy forcing him to watch. Puck shook his head and brought himself back to the present. "Good job," Dr Heathcote praised as Puck did it exactly right – not that he could actually get it wrong, he'd been guided to the space between the two clamps, but it happened, sometimes the dads cut in the wrong place!

* * *

Judy was the first to arrive, closely followed by Ruth, Jenna and Anna. "Darling, he is so beautiful," Judy crooned and swooped in to take hold of her newest grandson when Quinn indicated that she could. "What did you decide to call him?" she asked.

"Lucas Finlay," Quinn answered and shuffled a little gingerly on the sofa, she was feeling a little bit sore.

Puck immediately sprang into action. "Do you need anything?" he asked, ready to bring Quinn anything she might desperately require or merely desire.

"I'm fine," Quinn replied with a grin, Puck had been so attentive, even more so than usual, he was fussing round her as though she was made of the most fragile porcelain in the world. "Where's Scarlett?" she asked Jenna, she wasn't used to seeing the teen without the baby and to be honest, Scarlett was so adorable now that she was trying to take her first stumbling steps, she was really funny and Quinn still missed seeing her every day.

"She's at home with dad, Jake and Alicia," Jenna announced. "They're going to come over later, once both Scarlett and Alicia have woken up from their naps," she added and then took her turn at giving her new nephew a cuddle. "We just couldn't wait to see this little man," she said in a weird baby voice, one that made Puck cringe – he really hated it when people did that to babies, talked to them in really strange voices, like all those huge faces hovering over them wasn't enough to weird them out already!

Puck went to answer the phone when it rang. "Hi, how are you?" he asked as Rachel announced herself.

"I'm great, how are you, how is Quinn? And the baby?" Rachel demanded excitedly. She couldn't wait to tell Puck the news. Puck responded to the questions. "Did you settle on a name for him yet?" Rachel asked – they hadn't announced that on Facebook yet, just that the baby had arrived at five minutes past five this morning, that he weighed six pounds four ounces, and that mother and baby were doing well.

"Yes, we did," Puck replied with a smile, he knew that Rachel would be touched, but it was a promise he had to keep, a promise he'd sworn to keep over a stupid sapling that Coach Beiste had made him replant quite a few years ago. Puck wondered how the tree was doing, he would have to ask Jenna, or maybe he could take his son to see the tree and the plaque on the ground and tell him exactly who Finn was, what he meant to them all.

"And?" Rachel encouraged when it seemed like Puck had forgotten she was there on the line.

"Sorry, Lucas Finlay," Puck announced and then winked at Quinn, she smiled back, it was a private moment between them, despite all of the family around, it was a second in time and space where no one could intrude. "Lucas Finlay Puckerman," Puck said with pride, he could feel the warmth of it growing inside him – and he loved that feeling.

"I have some news for you, but first, can I come over and visit on the weekend?" Rachel asked. "We're going to be in Lima, visiting my dads, so can we pop over, meet Lucas?" she asked in a slightly pleading tone.

"Of course," Puck replied. "Here's Quinn, she wants to talk with you," he added as Quinn asked for the phone. Puck went to answer the door to his father, his nephew, his niece and he wasn't exactly sure what Jake's daughter was to him…great-niece, maybe?

"Everything ok?" Jake asked when he and Puck went into the kitchen to get drinks for everyone. "Did they ask you to cut the cord?" he queried and shuddered, he'd done that when Alicia was born but he still had nightmares about it, about what would have happened if the scissors had slipped or something!

Puck nodded and took a seat at the table, Jake took one opposite. "It was surreal and wonderful and so different from before," he sighed with happiness. Puck looked at the slightly questioning look from Jake and from Jim who had now joined them. "Like, the last time, everything was really clinical, and I was just stuck there, in the way, with Quinn yelling and screaming at me and Judy glaring daggers at me, and Mercedes tutting at me, and all the nurses and doctors were female too, I was like the only male in the room and it felt like they were all blaming me for every wrong since Adam bit Eve's apple," he explained. "But this, it was so quiet, there was just the three of us in the bathroom and it was so calm, so relaxed, and Lucas just slid out into the water, he didn't cry or scream, he just looked at Quinn when Dr Heathcote put him on her chest, he just looked at her, stared at her, he was all scrunched up and covered in all sorts of unmentionable shit, but he just stared at her, like he knew who she was and then he latched on and started eating, he's barely let go to shut his eyes since, I think he's definitely a boob man, takes after both of us," he added with a wink and gave his dad's arm a cheeky nudge.

"Three of us," Jake murmured with an appreciative thought to Marley's boobs and the gloriousness he found there. Puck and Jim grinned at the boy, they all appreciated the female form…especially the boobs.

* * *

"He's perfect, isn't he?" Quinn whispered when Puck climbed back into bed after settling the baby into the crib after his feed and diaper change.

"Of course, he is," Puck murmured. "He's _our_ kid, how could he be anything else?" he teased and drew Quinn into his arms so that they both faced the crib and could gaze adoringly at their tiny son.

"I wish Beth could meet him," Quinn sighed sadly. That was her one regret, that Beth was so far away, that she wouldn't be able to meet her brother for a long while. "We'll have to call Shelby, maybe try to arrange something before your paternity leave is up," she suggested. In Quinn's mind, it was imperative that her children meet, she wasn't entirely sure how that could be achieved, she hadn't thought it through properly yet – though she didn't actually relish a flight to the UK with a tiny baby in her arms.

"Did Rachel tell you what she wanted?" Puck asked, he couldn't figure out a meeting with Beth that didn't involve a long flight either.

"No, she said she'd see us at the weekend," Quinn replied through a yawn. "I'm exhausted," she sighed and snuggled down in Puck's arms. "Night," she sighed as her eyes closed.

"Night," Puck whispered and then kissed the edge of her ear. "Night, Lucas," he added quietly to the sleeping baby.

* * *

"Rachel called, she's coming over in an hour," Quinn called as soon as Puck got in from the market. "She says they're coming with her but I swear to God, if those kids of hers are as destructive as they were at our wedding, I am throwing them out into the yard," she stated.

"I'll give you a hand to toss them," Puck laughingly agreed and then dropped a kiss on Quinn's upturned nose. "I'll get dinner started before they get here, it's going to need a while to slow cook," he explained and began unpacking the groceries.

"If it's your nana's recipe beef stew, I will love you forever," Quinn declared dramatically beside Puck, she'd followed him into the kitchen.

"Guess you'll love me forever then," Puck replied and gave Quinn a more thorough kiss on the lips. "I'm going to love being at home for the next three months," he sighed happily. Quinn smiled and planted a little peck on Puck's cheek, she was going to love him being at home too – especially if he kept on cooking!

* * *

"Hi," Puck cried in happy welcome when he opened the front door a while later. "Jeez, Shelby, hi," he said, he was in shock, total shock, he'd fully expected to see Jesse and the kids standing there with Rachel - in fact, he'd braced himself for it - and seeing Shelby caught him off guard! "Is Beth…" Puck began to ask, his question was left hanging as Beth pounced from the left, she'd hidden out of sight for a moment, she'd wanted her mom to do the same but Puck had opened the door too quickly. "Holy crap," he exclaimed as Beth frightened the life out of him. "Sorry," he laughed and stepped back to let the three of them into the house. "So this is what you meant by bringing them with you?" he asked Rachel. Rachel shrugged and smirked slightly, she didn't think she needed to apologise for misleading her friends, it was an incredibly good surprise!

"Hi," Beth replied with a nervous smile, she wasn't sure now that trying to scare Puck to death was funny, really, it wasn't anything more than a juvenile prank.

"Hey, sweetie, how are you?" Puck asked. He knew Quinn was going to flip when she saw Beth, she so wanted her to meet Lucas.

"I'm good," Beth answered, her accent made Puck smile, it sounded weird – a mixture of Ohio and London with maybe a touch of New York thrown in for good measure! "How's Quinn?" she asked. "And the baby?" she added excitedly.

"They're both fine, come and see them," Puck said with a smile and led the way to the lounge. "Look who's here," he called to Quinn.

"Oh, my God," Quinn squealed quietly, she didn't want to disturb the baby as he ate. "You look wonderful," she exclaimed excitedly as Beth sat down next to her. "I am so happy to see you," she whispered as a tear dripped down her face and splashed onto Lucas' soft, downy hair. "He's eating again," she apologised - half-heartedly apologised - when she glanced down at her son at her breast.

"Actually, out of the eighty or so hours he's been in the world, I think he's spent fifty of them eating," Puck muttered jokingly...almost jokingly!

"Look how much you've grown," Quinn said with a touch of wonder in her voice. "And you've had your ears pierced," she cried and brushed Beth's long blonde hair away from her pretty face to check out the dainty flower shaped stud earrings in Beth's ears. "You look beautiful," she told her daughter, both pride and pleasure showed on her face in equal measure.

"Give her a chance to catch her breath," Puck teased as Quinn was about to launch into a million more questions and observations. "So, what's happening with you?" he asked and took a seat on the opposite sofa, both Rachel and Shelby had already sat down there.

"Well, I'm just about to start high school," Beth replied.

"How?" Puck cried. "You're only eleven, how are you in high school?" he demanded, he glanced over at the baby, Lucas had started at the loud voice and resumed his hungry suckling. "Sorry, bud," Puck murmured his apology and then looked to Beth for her to explain.

"See, it's not actually _high_ school, high school, not like you get here," Beth began. "In England you start secondary school at eleven and continue through to sixteen and then do sixth form till eighteen or college if you don't want to stay on at school, so basically it's the same as here but different," she explained - and then rolled her eyes at her own confusing explanation. "Me and my mates are all going to the same school," she added – her accent became much more 'London' the longer she spoke.

"You sound so weird," Puck said with a laugh, "you've really picked up the accent," he added and wondered if that would ever change, or even if she would ever come back to live in the US. Puck looked at Quinn and noted the sadness in her eyes.

"So, what's your news?" Quinn asked Rachel, she really had to change the subject, change the focus, she needed time to process how much Beth had changed, how much she'd grown up.

"Oh," Rachel cried, as if she'd suddenly remembered something. "Well, as you know, I've been thinking about taking a break from Broadway, right?" she said and looked for her friends to nod, they did so. "So, I'm coming back to Lima for a year to be the new coach of New Directions," she cried.

"And the other thing is," Beth added, "I'm going to be staying with her for a month when she does," she cried. "So I'll be able to see you guys all the time," she exclaimed with breathless excitement.

Quinn looked at Shelby to see if it was true, Shelby nodded. "I'm getting married and so, when we go on honeymoon, we're going to Australia for a month to see Roger's children from his first marriage," she explained, "but Beth asked if she could come and spend the month in Lima to be here with you guys," she added with a slight touch of apprehension in her voice – Quinn could tell that Shelby wasn't entirely sure about that arrangement.

"I mean, I know it will be crowded at my dads' house," Rachel hurriedly interjected – she actually had a plan up her sleeve and she hoped she wasn't being too obvious about it.

"You could always stay here for the month," Puck offered, almost before Rachel had stopped speaking, almost before Quinn could process the facts, almost before Beth could hope!

"Really?" Beth whisper-cried, that thought had entered her head just as Rachel said the word crowded, but she really didn't dare to hope that she would have another option.

"Of course," Quinn replied softly – her voice was full of unspent emotion. Quinn glanced at Puck, she was so grateful that he had made that offer, she'd wanted to but she still wasn't totally sure of Shelby's feelings towards her, sometimes she felt that Shelby preferred to talk to Puck, preferred that Beth spend time with Puck rather than with Quinn. "If it's ok with your mom, of course," she murmured and glanced in Shelby's direction before disengaging Lucas from his forgotten task. Quinn patted the sleeping baby's back for a few moments, she held him up against her shoulder and drew comfort from the normal, natural task while the woman who had been such a source of emotional pain for her through many, many years, struggled with an answer.

"Thank you," Shelby said with a slightly croaky voice, "that's a wonderful offer and a fabulous solution," she added and smiled at Quinn. Shelby realised that Beth would want to get to know the baby, she had already said a few things that had made Shelby catch her breath, like, she wondered why Puck and Quinn had decided to keep the baby but not her, like, she wondered if Puck and Quinn loved Lucas more than they'd ever loved her. Shelby knew that Beth needed some time with Puck and Quinn to fully understand her role in their life, in their story, their love story.

After everyone had had a cuddle of Lucas, Puck took him to the nursery to change his diaper, Beth followed, she wanted to watch – she thought she might even assist when she came to stay, if it wasn't too gross! Beth had never actually been upstairs in Puck and Quinn's house before, she wasn't exactly sure why. "So this is Lucas' nursery?" she asked as she looked around the sweet little room with the sunny yellow walls and the beautiful blue accessories.

"Yep," Puck replied, he glanced over at Beth's pensive face as he tucked Lucas's legs back into the tiniest sweat pants known to man. "Our room is next door," he added and nodded his head towards his and Quinn's room. Beth followed as Puck led the way into the master bedroom with Lucas still sleeping in his arms. "And this is where Lucas was born," he said when he pushed the bathroom door open. "In the tub," he told Beth with a grin. "That was a little scary, I can tell you," he murmured. "Do you want to see your room?" he asked, he had the feeling that was why Beth had come up with him, to see if there really was room for her here.

"Yes, please," Beth mumbled shyly. Beth followed Puck along the hallway to the opposite end. In an almost mirror image room – minus the en suite bathroom – Beth saw that it really was a room designed with a girl or young woman in mind.

"Bathroom is next door," Puck said with a nod in that direction, "and next door to that is the room that we'll eventually decorate for Lucas," he explained as he opened the door to what could best be described as the 'junk room'. "This will be his room," he said, "and for as long as you want it, that will be your room," he assured Beth with a slight smile. "I know it's only for a month right now, but we'd be happy for you to come and stay whenever your mom will let you," he said with a quiet intensity that Beth believed. "Let's go back downstairs," he suggested, he knew that Quinn would be itching to spend time with Beth.

* * *

"Are you sure Beth doesn't want to go to Australia with you?" Quinn asked the second that Puck and Beth disappeared upstairs. "Not that I want her to, really, I don't, I love that she'll be here with us," she hurriedly added just in case Shelby thought she was trying to rescind the offer.

"Actually, it's more like _I_ don't want her to come with us," Shelby explained. "Look, I know it sounds awful, but Beth can be really nasty towards Roger, really hateful," she sighed, "and he's nothing but wonderful to her," she murmured. "And I'd just like a month of peace with my new husband before we throw ourselves back into the teenage hormone maelstrom," she added with a rather self-mocking laugh.

"Has she always hated him or is it a recent thing?" Quinn asked, she frowned as she pondered the situation.

"Got your psychologist's head on?" Shelby teasingly asked, Quinn snorted with an embarrassed laugh and shrugged her shoulders. "No, Beth loved spending time with Roger either with me or just the two of them, right up until we announced that we were getting married and then she changed, like overnight, she became such a horrific spoiled brat and she's never been like that," Shelby sighed, she'd tried to puzzle it out but she couldn't make much sense of it.

"Sounds like she's a little jealous," Quinn said, it certainly seemed that way when she heard Shelby's side of it but she'd hold judgement till she'd heard Beth's point of view. Quinn turned to the doorway as she heard Beth and Puck come back down the stairs. "We can talk about it later, if you'd like," she offered quietly.

"Thanks, but I'll leave it for now," Shelby replied just as quietly. "Hey, Boo, did you see your room?" she asked her daughter.

"I did," Beth replied, "it's lovely," she commented and smiled at Quinn. "I'm not sure about helping out with the stinky diapers while I'm here, though, that was really gross," she added and pulled a face which made them all laugh.

"You staying here is not conditional on helping with the diapers," Quinn assured Beth. "Plus, I believe, they only get worse," she added and pulled a face herself. Beth giggled. For the rest of the afternoon, Rachel, Shelby and Beth visited with the Puckermans, they talked about many, many things, including the choice of middle name for the baby.

* * *

Puck tapped his foot as they waited in the arrivals hall to greet Beth. Quinn rocked the stroller slightly to keep the baby asleep for a little while longer. "Won't be long now, she should be just about clearing customs," he murmured to Quinn. Puck whistled quietly and shifted from foot to foot. "Is it as bad as this when you're waiting for me to get in?" he asked.

Quinn looked at her husband and rolled her eyes. "Haven't you ever waited for someone important before?" she asked.

"Not really," Puck replied, though he was slightly distracted because he'd seen people starting to come through the doors to be greeted by loved ones.

"Well, it's awful," Quinn informed him. "You're so desperate to see the person that it feels like they're holding them captive for hours once the plane has touched down," she grumbled. "There she is," she sighed as she caught sight of Beth's blonde hair in the crowd. Puck was already making his way over to her, he'd seen her too. Quinn watched as Puck caught Beth up in his arms and hugged her for a moment, she sniffed as they both turned and waved to her, she couldn't move for a second, she watched the two of them head her way, Puck trailing Beth's enormous suitcase, Beth hurrying ahead to greet Quinn. "Hi, baby," she whispered into Beth's ear as the young girl launched herself into Quinn's arms.

"Hi, it's so good to see you again," Beth whispered as she hugged Quinn tight. Beth realised that she suddenly felt as though she'd come home. "How's Lucas?" she asked as she peered into the stroller. "Wow, he's getting so big," she cried.

"I know," Quinn replied happily. "And he looks so much like you," she added. "I'm glad you're here," she murmured as she hugged Beth close again.

"Me too," Beth sighed, and she was, she was thrilled, she was so happy that she was going to be spending a full month - almost five weeks, actually - with her birth parents and her baby brother. There was one thing that was bothering her, she wasn't actually sure what she should call them. Beth kept quiet, she wasn't quite ready to have that conversation just yet.

"Hey, are we ready?" Puck asked, he was ready to get out of there and begin the hour-long drive that would take them home. Home! It felt good to think of that - all four of them were going home!

* * *

"Hi, sweetie," Ruth called happily as Beth answered the front door a couple of hours later, "you're here," she commented - as if Beth could have opened the door if she wasn't. "Go see uncle Puck," she encouraged the toddler who was currently holding her hand and jumping at her side. "Where's uncle Puck?" she asked Scarlett.

"Tuck," Scarlett shouted with absolute joy, she loved her uncle Puck. "Tuck," Scarlett shouted again and toddled off in the direction of the living room while Beth and Ruth watched her indulgently.

"I'm so glad you came here," Ruth sighed as she enfolded Beth in her arms for a proper hug. "You've no idea how much Quinn and Noah have longed for this," she murmured. And it wasn't only Puck and Quinn who had longed for it, Ruth and Judy had too, they'd both prayed for the day that their granddaughter would come back to them, the instant that both Puck and Quinn had signed the adoption papers, they'd longed for it.

"I'm glad I'm here, too," Beth replied and then stepped back. "I'm still not sure what to call them," she admitted in a whispered voice. "It seems rude to call them by their first names, but I can't call them mom and dad either, that wouldn't be fair to my mom, I just don't know what to call them," she sighed.

"I know I can't be your mom," Quinn's quiet voice came from the doorway to the living room, "but I'd love to be your aunt Quinn," she offered, a little hesitantly, a little nervously.

Beth smiled gratefully, she nodded with a tearful look in her eye, she looked over Quinn's shoulder. "Can I call you uncle Puck?" she asked huskily - her voice just didn't want to work properly, maybe she was jet-lagged!

For a moment, just the briefest, briefest moment, Puck wanted to scream out. "No, we aren't your aunt and uncle, we're your parents," he wanted to yell, but he didn't, he held it in. In the blink of an eye, a million different emotions passed through him, from joy to sadness, from elation to despair. Puck took a second to catch his breath, to make sure that his words could be said, he didn't want to say them, but they had to be said. "We don't have the right for you to call us your parents," he agreed and then slipped his arm around Quinn's shoulders, "but I'd love for you to call me uncle Puck," he added as Beth surged forwards to be hugged tight by both of them.

"Thank you," Beth murmured with relief, "thank you aunt Quinn, thank you uncle Puck."

* * *

"Hey," Puck said quietly when he found Beth snoozing in the lounge. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"Just tired," Beth replied and yawned delicately behind her hand. "It's been a busy weekend," she added as she stretched and yawned again.

"How was the wedding?" Puck asked, Quinn had asked him to take note of Beth's response, she thought Beth might be a bit more open with him than with her, Beth was often wary that Quinn was a trained psychologist and so didn't go into detail with her.

"It was cool," Beth answered with a smile. "My mom looked great and Roger's a really nice guy, he's good to her, he's good to me too," she said and then sighed.

"So, why the sigh?" Puck asked, he looked up towards the ceiling as he heard the faint sound of Lucas yelling his head off. "Sounds like Quinn's taken him out of the bath," he muttered to Beth.

"Quinn said that Lucas loves his bath," Beth giggled. "Sounds like she was right," she muttered. Puck nodded and smiled, he waited for Beth to talk some more. "I know I've been awful since mom told me that she was going to marry Roger, but I didn't mean to be," she sighed, she really wanted to get this off her chest, she wanted to talk and it was easier to do so with someone she knew loved her unconditionally and wouldn't judge. "See, I think I was scared," Beth admitted and looked at Puck, she saw the interest on his face but thankfully, she been right about the lack of judgment. "It scared me that her marrying Roger would mean that we wouldn't ever come back here, that I wouldn't ever see you guys again and I know I haven't seen a lot of you over the years, but the idea that I wouldn't see you at all scared me," she said and picked at a loose thread on her sock, anything but actually hold Puck's gaze, having to look him in the eye would make it even harder to talk to him.

"But you're happy that your mom married Roger?" Puck asked, he wanted Beth to clarify that, plus he knew that Quinn would be back downstairs soon and hopefully, she could be here to help Beth resolve her issues.

"Oh, yes, he's a really great guy," Beth agreed straight away. "He loves my mom so much and his kids are really nice, he's a good dad to them, even though they live in Australia and he lives in London with us," she explained enthusiastically. "He really knows how to be a dad," she said with conviction.

"You're lucky," Puck told Beth, "you got Roger for a dad, poor Lucas got stuck with me and I'm just learning how to be a dad," he said with a little snort of laughter.

"Well, you're really _my_ dad too," Beth assured Puck.

"No," Puck sighed and shook his head, "no, I'm not," he told her quietly. "See, when you were born, I was too young and too stupid to know what a gift we'd been given," he said. "Quinn, now she knew, she had her head screwed on," he admitted, "she prepared herself right from the get-go that you were going to be adopted, she knew that the best chance for you in life was for her to find you the best family, the best mom and she knew that we wouldn't have been the best family for you, not back then," he explained. "I've been worried that you would feel hurt now that we have Lucas," Puck added honestly, he looked at Beth's face, saw the faint sheen of tears in her eyes.

"I was, a little," Beth admitted, she sniffed when she saw Quinn at the door, she didn't know how much Quinn had heard.

"Having Lucas doesn't make us love you any less," Quinn broke in huskily. "In fact, it makes all the love we have for you seem all the more powerful, because, with every single thing that Lucas does, we know that we missed seeing you do that, we missed every single one of your milestones," she said sadly and took a seat next to Puck, automatically, she leaned into his body and Puck placed his arm around her shoulders to both comfort her and to keep her close.

"Except your first crappy diaper," Puck butted in, "I changed that, your very first diaper, when I was trying to prove to Quinn that I knew what I was doing, that we could be a family," he said and then rolled his eyes. "I didn't have a job, except for my stupid pool cleaning round," he sighed, "I didn't have any money, but I could change diapers," he mocked himself. "And yes, I knew back then that it wasn't enough," he admitted.

"We had to make sure that whoever adopted you would want to give you the absolute best in life," Quinn assured Beth. "And I don't mean in monetary terms, that had nothing to do with it, but the person, people, family, whatever, they had to be so ready and so focused and be at that point in their life that you would be the most important thing to them, and that was Shelby," she offered simply. "She approached us, she asked if she could adopt you, we already knew something about her, knew her background, she offered us a lot more information about herself, her life and what she told me struck a chord, I knew, I just knew, with the utmost certainty that she would be the perfect mom for you," Quinn explained.

"My life has been good," Beth agreed. "I know me and my mom are close, some of my friends, they're just awful to their moms, my mom says it's probably just hormones but I think it's because they weren't picked like I was, I mean, my mom picked me, right?" she asked quite jokingly, a little teasingly. "Out of all the babies, she picked me," she reminded them.

"Yes, she did," Puck said with a nod. "From the first time your mom saw you, she was meant to be your family," he added softly.

"And even though we are your birth parents," Quinn said, her voice was a gentle mix of both love and reassurance, "we'll never be your mom and dad, but we will always be your family, your aunt Quinn and uncle Puck."


End file.
